


contradiction to nature

by brunetteandblond



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, It's Really Just a Story About Wynonna and Nicole Falling in Love While Chasing Extraterrestrials, Nicole as Scully, Slow Burn, Two Damaged People Fall in Love, Wynaught X-Files AU, Wynonna as Mulder, wynaught
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 94,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26938618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunetteandblond/pseuds/brunetteandblond
Summary: Agent Nicole Haught is a teacher in the FBI academy who is assigned to spy on the woman who investigates X-Files, cases that deal with unexplained phenomena.Agent Wynonna Earp just wants to know the truth and Agent Haught is standing in her way.Slowly, as they are forced to work together, Nicole realizes that Wynonna isn't as crazy as she seems and that her bosses are the ones who are hiding things.And maybe, just maybe, they can learn what the truth is together (as a team, and maybe as something more).
Relationships: Jeremy Chetri & Wynonna Earp, Rosita Bustillos/Waverly Earp, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Wynonna Earp & Doc Holliday, Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp/Nicole Haught, Xavier Dolls & Wynonna Earp
Comments: 309
Kudos: 158





	1. the meeting(s)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited for this fic. It's my first romantic wynaught fic and honestly, it's a long time coming. 
> 
> Some of the lines in this fic are directly pulled from X-Files, so all the credit goes to those amazing writers and creators. However, after this chapter, the plot of the fic will not align with the show! 
> 
> Here we go, y'all. 
> 
> And just remember, the truth is out there.

She noticed the picture frame on his desk first. She had heard his story was a tragic one, but it hadn’t really hit her until she saw the photo. The photo portrayed a classic American family: a husband, a wife, a daughter, a son. Nicole knew that the family now only consisted of a husband and daughter. She didn’t know how someone could handle such a loss and return to work acting like it wasn’t killing them. 

The man’s eyes found hers staring at the picture and he cleared his throat to turn her attention back to him. “Agent Nicole Haught, do you know why you’re here?” 

Nicole shifted uncomfortably in her seat, knowing he was trying to intimidate her. “No, Sir.” 

He nodded and looked down at the case file on his desk (Nicole presumed that it was hers). “You’ve been with us for two years. You went to medical school but chose not to practice. How’d you come to work for the FBI?” 

The twenty-nine-year-old rubbed her lips together anxiously and sat up a little straighter. She hated having to explain herself to a man who probably wouldn’t ever understand her choices, even if she explained her whole life story. Section Chief Randy Nedley wasn’t the kind of man who’d understand the longing that had led to her arrival at the FBI academy. One of the other men in the room coughed. He was smoking and she figured he must be pretty high up the FBI food chain to be able to do that in a building where smoking had been prohibited for at least a decade.

“I was recruited out of medical school.” She wanted to remain as vague as possible. She didn’t want him to know anything about her life. She didn’t want to give him another reason to hate her. 

The section chief nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Have you heard of the agent Wynonna Earp?” 

Nicole blinked, confused. Of course she had heard of Wynonna Earp. Even though she was a teacher at the academy, she heard plenty about the woman who the FBI hid in a basement. She just didn’t know why she was being asked about this woman she had no contact with. Hell, she still didn’t know why she was here. She thought she might be getting reassigned or transferred, but it didn’t quite seem to be heading in that direction.

“I have.” 

“What have you heard, exactly?” 

She noticed that the men were watching her carefully as if this particular answer to the question was some sort of test. “I’ve heard about her reputation, mostly. She was a profiler for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Generally thought of as the best analyst in the violent crimes section. She had a nickname at the academy. Spooky Earp.” 

He crossed his arms and stared at her intensely like she failed the test. “Did you know Agent Earp has developed a consuming devotion to an unassigned project outside the bureau mainstream? Are you familiar with the so-called ‘X-Files’?” 

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Sir, why am I here?” 

“You’re here, Agent Haught, because we want you to assist Agent Earp on these X-Files. You will write field reports on your activities, along with your observations on the validity of the work.” 

Nicole looked from man to man, trying to figure out why out of all the suckers in the FBI, it had to be _her_ that was forced to babysit Spooky Earp. She didn’t even know how she was put on their radar. Sure, she had little respect for people who believed in the ‘supernatural’, but she didn’t know how anyone knew that (unless they found her twitter account).

“Let me get this straight, am I supposed to debunk the X-Files project, Sir?” 

Nedley turned around to look at the smoking man and then returned his cold stare back at Nicole. “Agent Haught, we trust you’ll make the proper scientific analysis. You’ll want to contact Agent Earp shortly. We look forward to seeing your reports.” 

She froze, glaring at him. “Do I have a choice in this at all?” 

He chuckled as if she made some sort of joke. “Agent Haught, do you have any ambitions in the FBI? Do you want to stay as a teacher in the academy forever?” 

She stiffened, recognizing the threat immediately. The last thing she wanted was to play babysitter and spy on some other woman in the bureau, but she didn’t want to commit career suicide either. He smiled, knowing she was realizing he backed her into a corner and couldn’t refuse. She fucking hated bureau politics.

“No, Sir.” 

“That’s what I thought. You’re dismissed, Agent Haught.” 

Nicole stood up and gave him a sharp nod. She looked up at the other men but didn’t acknowledge their presence. Why would she when all they did was ignore her? Besides, she wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible. The smoke was getting to her. It reminded her of her vape-obsessed roommate during her first year of college. 

She headed for the bathroom to try to gather herself together again. Nicole felt like she was one of the cold cadavers she examined. She felt dissected by those men. Like they were pulling her flesh back, slice by slice to see what was inside.

She vigorously washed her hands as if she thought she could scrub away the conversation and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt disheveled, but she looked exactly like she did before the meeting. Put together. Impeccable. She took a deep breath. She never understood how she could feel so differently than how she looked. Then again, there was a reason why she perfected this look. A pantsuit, straightened red hair, simple make-up. She felt like she was an actor, always begging to be taken seriously.

The basement used to house the old Behavioral Science (now Analysis) Unit and their offices before profiling became respected by the mainstream media and people worshipped _Criminal Minds._ Nicole knew the basement was for the FBI’s dirty little secrets. She didn’t understand how someone like Wynonna Earp, who was once a legend in her field, found herself to be one of the FBI’s many dirty secrets. 

In the elevator down to the basement, she tried to go over her talking points in her head. She didn’t want Wynonna Earp to know that she was sent to be a spy. Though, if Agent Earp was as smart as Nicole heard she was, she was sure that the woman would see through her immediately. She cursed under her breath. She was sure this would be the greatest disaster in the history of her career. She could just hear her mother’s voice in her head. _I told you that the FBI would be a mistake. You’re just not cut out for it._

When she got out of the elevator, she shuddered and cracked her knuckles, her nervous habit. She tried to focus on the things around her. Like how the basement looked permanently set in the 90s. It would have made her laugh if she wasn’t supposed to stay down here like a measly cockroach. 

When she found the door, she knocked, finding the door slightly ajar as she heard the voice. 

“Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI’s most unwanted.” 

Nicole rolled her eyes at the joke and entered the cramped office. She could see the woman hunched over, her face close to her laptop or files or whatever the hell she was looking at. Nicole barely had the chance to snoop and take mental notes about the office covered with memorabilia, strange posters (like one with “I want to believe” and a UFO on it that made Nicole want to turn right around and leave), and old photographs. The agent spun around in her seat to face her, Wynonna's looks consuming all of Nicole’s attention. She was a little breathless at first. Pretty women had that effect on her. And Agent Wynonna Earp was _definitely_ pretty. She didn’t know what she had exactly expected her to look like, but it wasn’t _this._ Her beauty was definitely something people left out of the rumors. 

Trying to remember how to talk, Nicole cleared her throat. “Agent Earp, I’m Nicole Haught, I’ve been assigned to work with you.” 

Wynonna leaned back in the chair, allowing Nicole to get a better look at her. Ripped black jeans, fierce eyeliner, piercings running up and down her ears, a Hole band t-shirt, chipped black nails, and combat boots. Nicole didn’t know how she wasn’t dress-coded. She knew if she pulled the same shit, she would have been reprimanded immediately. Maybe even fired. 

“Haught as in…” 

“H-a-u-g-h-t,” Nicole spelled out and crossed her arms, frustrated that she had to explain her last name to every person she came across. “Not as in, you know, the temperature.” 

Wynonna pointed a finger gun at her. “Gotcha. So, Agent Haught-not-as-in-temperature, who the fuck did you piss off to get stuck with me?” 

Nicole chewed her cheek, trying to not show the woman how startled she was. “Actually, I’m looking forward to working with you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

The woman grinned devilishly. “Oh, really. Huh. ‘Cause I thought you were sent here to spy on me.” 

The fact that she hadn’t stopped smiling set Nicole even more on edge. She knew this was going to happen, but she figured she would just be yelled at. Not _this,_ whatever _this_ was. Nicole thought the woman looked like she was enjoying herself, enjoying torturing her. 

“If you have any doubts about my qualifications or credentials—” 

“You’re a medical doctor.” Wynonna hopped up from the chair to face her (Nicole thanked God that she was taller). “You teach at the academy. You did your undergraduate degree in physics. You’ve written several articles that have gone over my head. I know you’re qualified.” 

Nicole mentally smacked herself. She should have known the brunette was just pretending to not know her at the beginning. The woman was profiling her. She could _feel_ it. She hated this power play.

“So, what? You don’t like physics?” 

The profiler laughed, causing shivers to go down Nicole’s spine, and took a step forward so that they were only about a foot apart. “Well, unless you’re talking about getting _physical,_ not really. In my work, the law of physics doesn’t seem to apply.” 

Nicole blinked, not knowing whether the agent annoyed her or pissed her off more. “The laws of physics apply in every situ—” 

She stopped when the brunette suddenly leaned in to turn the lights off (Nicole tried to not react to how close they were). Wynonna Earp was so close she could smell her. Whiskey and honey. _And something else._

“Okay, _Doctor,_ riddle me this.” Wynonna turned on the projector and pulled up a picture of a dead woman. “Why would a healthy young woman, Lara James, age seventeen, die from so-called ‘natural causes’? And I say ‘so-called’ because there’s nothing in the autopsy to confirm that it’s actually a natural death. There’s no explainable cause of death at all.” 

Nicole stared at the photo closely and tried to go over all the possible scenarios in her head. “It’s not uncommon that in rural areas autopsies aren’t as complete as—” 

“Fair enough,” Earp interrupted with a shrug and went to the next slide. A different person. A slightly older teenager. “In the same town, three years before Lara went missing, this nineteen-year-old, Derrick Richards, went missing. ” She went to the next slide. A younger male. “Ian McHale’s sixteen and went missing three years before Richards.” She went to the next slide of another teen around the same age and Nicole had to tear her eyes away. “And Sue O’Malley went missing three years before that. The most recent victim is the only one out of the four who has been found. Lara went missing a month ago and was found two weeks ago. The other three are still missing.” 

Nicole stared into the woman’s intense blue eyes. “Could be a coincidence.” 

The other agent snorted. “You think all of these are coincidences? In the same town?” 

“Teens go missing all the time and without seeing the body in person, I don’t know what to think,” she defended bitterly. “What do you think it is? A serial killer?” 

Earp grinned at her again, making Nicole want to smack her. “For there to be a serial killer, Agent Haughty, we would have to be sure that murders took place. Do you think all these people were murdered, Agent? That’s a little presumptuous. We don’t even have the bodies.” 

Nicole clenched her jaw, hating that the woman was trying to make her feel stupid. “Why don’t you tell me what _you_ think, Agent Earp?” 

“What do _I_ think?” She went to the next slide and Nicole found herself staring at a picture of a strange mark on pale skin. “There was a mark on the found victim’s lower back that wasn’t there before her death. With your medical expertise, do you know what it could be?” 

Nicole stared at the images and shrugged. “Could be a lot of things, Earp. Needle punctures, taser marks, bug bites.” 

“Could be, but I doubt it.” 

She wanted to bang her head against the wall. “Well, what do _you_ think it is? What’s your theory?” 

“I have many theories,” Wynonna told her and turned on the lights. “Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?” 

Nicole stared at her, finding it a little difficult to take a conversation about aliens seriously. “You know what, I’d have to say no.” 

That didn’t seem to surprise the woman. “And what if there’s no scientific explanation for all these disappearances? What if all we’re left with is unexplained phenomena?” 

Now that was something Nicole definitely disagreed with. “Nothing can be unexplained, Earp. Just because you don’t know the scientific explanation right now doesn’t mean there isn’t one. She obviously died of something and the other teens are gone for a reason. Maybe there’s a cult the teens are attracted to. Maybe she was killed by a drug that didn’t come up in toxicology. Or maybe, the medical examiner is just very incompetent and the town is shitty.” 

The woman just stared back at her, her eyes intense. “Maybe. And that’s where you and I come in, Haught-Dog. See you tomorrow morning, bright and early. We leave for Oregon tomorrow at 8 am at Reagan Airport.” 

Nicole opened her mouth to say no as a reflex. The idea of traveling with this freaky woman to a different state and investigating a case that probably didn’t need her assistance did not sound worth her time. She had spent enough time in her life having to work with wackos. She thought in the FBI she would be able to escape it. 

“You don’t look thrilled. And here I thought you were excited to work with me.” 

She glared at the brunette. She knew that Wynonna Earp was challenging her, and if there was anything Nicole was good at, it was proving people that they were wrong and had underestimated her. Besides, she liked a good challenge.

“I guess I’ll see you at 8.” 

Wynonna saluted her and Nicole left the office feeling strange. She laughed a little to herself. She was feeling _alien._

* * *

 _“You got a_ partner?” Waverly practically shouted in Wynonna’s ear, even as she tried to hold the phone away from her.

“No, Waves, I got a fucking babysitter.” 

She opened the door to her apartment and quickly found her way to the Nutella (the only thing in her cabinets). She dipped a spoon into it and stuffed it into her mouth. Was Nutella better than sex? Not usually, but it was close. 

_“A babysitter? What does that mean?”_

Wynonna loved that her baby sister was so innocent, but sometimes she hated having to explicitly explain everything. “It means she was sent to spy on me.” 

She gasped. _“Spy on you? If the FBI wanted you out, ‘Nonna, why wouldn’t they just fire you? Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid?”_

“I’m always paranoid,” Wynonna sighed and brought the Nutella over to the couch so she could veg out. “But that has nothing to do with this. She’s a doctor and—” 

_“A doctor! Is she cute?”_

Wynonna wished that she could glare at her sister in person, but the younger Earp was hundreds of miles away. Nicole Haught might have been objectively attractive, but she knew the woman was sent to gather information to fire her. And she knew fucking her could only make things worse for her career. Unfortunately. Besides, she wasn’t sure she’d want to bang someone so uptight. 

“She’s trying to get me fired, babygirl.” 

_“That’s not an answer to my question, Wynonna! What does she look like?”_

Wynonna groaned and put her sister on speaker so that she could lay down. “Why are you asking? Don’t you _have_ a girlfriend?” 

_“She’s not my girlfriend.”_

She rolled her eyes. “Sure... and how many dates have you been on with Rosita again?” 

_“Shut up. We haven’t put a label on it yet. Please be nice to your new partner, ‘Nonna. If she really is a spy, make her like you. Maybe she can join the good side.”_

Wynonna scoffed, “nobody likes me.” 

_“I like you!”_

“You’re my sister, it doesn’t count.” 

She could hear her sister laugh. _“Of course it counts, silly. Hey, I was going to ask, is it aliens, Wyn? In Oregon?”_

Wynonna felt her stomach churn at the question. She knew what her sister was trying to ask, even if she didn’t quite believe in unexplained phenomena. Waverly was the only person who didn’t call Wynonna crazy all those years ago. The one person who still believed she wasn’t crazy. 

“Not sure yet, Waves. I’ll let you know what happens with the whole spy situation.” 

_“Alrighty. Hey, you know Oregon isn’t too far away from home, right?”_

Wynonna definitely did know and was simply ignoring that fact, not that she could tell her sister that. She would do anything to never have to go back to that place. Because the truth was Purgatory wasn’t her home. Not after her older sister vanished.

“I would visit, babygirl, but with the spy on my heels, I can’t. I’m sorry.” 

There was a beat of short silence before Waverly said, _“it’s okay, ‘Nonna. You’ll come when I graduate, right?”_

Wynonna covered her face with her hands and wanted to groan. She completely forgot that Waverly was getting her Ph.D. and was due to graduate in less than a year. Wynonna knew she’d have to go back for that; there was no way she was going to miss a milestone like that one. She always went back for her sister’s graduations. Being a busy FBI agent had been a good excuse for not going any other time. 

“Yeppers. Listen, Waves, I gotta go. I have to wake up early for the flight tomorrow. We’ll talk later and you can tell me all about your genius girlfriend, okay?” 

_“She’s not my girlfriend, Wynonna.”_

“Not your girlfriend _yet._ Be positive.” 

_“That’s rich coming from you.”_

“Shut up, dweeb. I’m hanging up on you now.” And she did. She loved her sister more than anything on the planet, but sometimes just talking to her made her completely exhausted. Then again, talking to just about anyone made her feel drained. 

Wynonna felt like total shit. From the second she started working on X-Files, she knew that she wouldn’t be working for the FBI much longer. She knew that they would be looking for any reason to fire her, but that it had to be a legit reason. If they fired her over nothing, she could start a shitstorm of chaos and they knew that. She knew that sending Nicole Haught was their last straw. She could feel the ending approach. She could practically see the cliff’s edge. 

Scrolling through her Spotify account, she picked the album she wanted and turned on her speaker, playing the music as loud as she could without getting threatened by neighbors. If anything could make her feel better, it was music. She sat on the cold floor and listened to Lenny Kravitz’s voice closely, like he was telling her a secret. She didn’t want to miss a single word. Focusing all of her attention on the music was the only way she could shut her thoughts off. 

* * *

Nicole woke up to a throbbing headache and an orange cat on her legs. She was used to getting up early, but she barely slept at all the entire night. And when she finally did fall asleep, she dreamt of the spooky brunette with intense blue eyes. She took an aspirin and a cold shower. 

She couldn’t wash off her agonizing worry. She felt like she was in a horror film slowly walking down to the basement of doom. She felt absolute dread as she met up with Wynonna freaking Earp at Ronald Reagan Airport. 

The brunette was sitting on a bench, listening to music and leaning back. The woman had her sunglasses on and Nicole felt a rush of annoyance hit her again. Earp seemed like the epitome of unprofessionalism. She could definitely say she had never met anyone like her before. 

When she approached her, the woman (who Nicole thought was asleep) sat up and smiled at her. “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” 

Nicole just stared at her, completely unimpressed. “Why are you quoting _The Blues Brothers_ at me?” 

She just shrugged and stood up. “Maybe I just wanted to see if you knew the reference. You ready?” 

“Do you have the tickets?” Nicole asked as she rubbed one of her temples. 

“I thought you would never ask.” Wynonna passed Nicole a ticket and sighed. “Let’s hit it, Haught-fry.” 

Nicole tensed up, hating the nickname. For being someone who always wanted to be taken seriously, this was a huge step in the complete opposite direction. She knew if she didn’t report Wynonna was a fraud or crazy, she would never be taken seriously ever again. 

Things only got worse when Nicole found out that Wynonna flirted with practically everyone she came across. The TSA Agent. A man in a hurry who ran into her. The very attractive flight attendant. Nicole was terrified to find out who else she’d flirt with. She could just imagine her flirting with other cops or the victim's family members. She wanted to know where it’d end. 

“Is there anyone you don’t flirt with?” Nicole asked her a tad bit aggressively as she put her seatbelt on. 

The woman just grinned at her, unperturbed by her tone. “Why? You jealous?” 

Nicole scoffed, offended. “Don’t be ridiculous.” 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to be _nice,_ you know? They have shitty jobs. Just wanted them to have a moment that isn’t completely terrible. Is that so horrible? Does that make me a monster?” 

Nicole just shook her head, only slightly reassured, and pulled out her book for the plane ride. _The Color Purple._ She watched out of the corner of her eye as Wynonna just put her headphones on and listened to music on her phone. She saw the song she was listening to. The Slits’ cover of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” She was a little shocked by the song choice. She didn’t know what she expected the brunette to listen to, but it definitely wasn’t _that._ She wasn’t going to tell the woman it was a great cover, even though she thought it. 

It wasn’t a completely disastrous plane ride until the end. Right before they landed, there was terror worthy turbulence. She was sure she even heard some screaming as some luggage fell out and fell on passengers.

Wynonna, calmly eating Doritos, turned to her with another grin. “This must be the place.”


	2. (a lack of) understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Oregon, Wynonna and Nicole interview both the medical examiner and Lara James' parents. Chaos inevitably ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, just wanted to say that the wynaught dynamic is going to be very different than the sculder/mully (do they have a ship name?) dynamic. This is mostly because of the characters and how different they are. wynaught is a little more intense! :)
> 
> Second, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The car that they rented was shitty, but then again, all cars seemed shitty to her. Wynonna was used her motorcycle for transportation when she wasn’t traveling for a case. She was just thankful for the AUX cord. Once “Where Is My Mind” by the band Pixies started playing and she rolled the windows down, she felt calmer. At home. She turned to look at the redhead and realized that the woman was probably hating the atmosphere. She looked pissed off, if anything. 

“You don’t like this song?” 

Nicole shrugged and crossed her arms as she looked out her passenger side window. “It reminds me of  _ Fight Club.”  _

“And… that’s a bad thing…?” 

The redhead just rolled her eyes and looked away. Wynonna didn’t understand this girl. She didn’t know how someone just couldn’t like  _ Fight Club.  _ For someone who liked queer literature, she didn’t know why Nicole wouldn’t be into it. The entire book is full of queer subtext and allegory. 

“Where are the case files?” 

“They’re in my bag. Here,” Wynonna attempted to turn around to reach the back seat, but Nicole gasped and yelled at her to keep her eyes on the road. “I’m trying to help you, Red! Jesus Christ.” 

“You’re going to get us killed,” Nicole fired back and grabbed the bag for herself. “Do you have a death wish?” 

“Probably.” 

Nicole just glared at her as she pulled out the files for the case. She looked at them for a few seconds before she shouted, “Earp, what the hell? The FBI has already investigated this case?” 

Wynonna sighed and rolled her eyes, unsurprised by the woman’s outrage. “And they found jack shit and reclassified it as an X-file. That’s why we’re here, Haught-sauce.” 

“Who reclassifies cases? Who do you work under?” 

“I have a new boss. Assistant Director Xavier Dolls. He’s the real person I have to report to.” 

Nicole raised an eyebrow like she had never heard of him. “What’s he like?” 

She shrugged, not having a clue. “I don’t really know him, really. But he’s… I got the feeling that he doesn’t really like me.” 

“Shocking,” the redhead deadpanned. 

Wynonna couldn’t help but laugh at that. “So you  _ do _ have a sense of humor.” 

“I do,” the redhead told her with a sigh. “I just don’t think you’re funny, which is why I don’t laugh at your lame attempts at jokes.” 

She gaped at her slightly, glad to find the woman had a bite. “I’m hilarious, actually.” 

“Agree to disagree,” Haught stated flatly and returned to the case file. “I’m not sure if the M.E. did that thorough of a job. I really want to look at the body myself.” 

“We would either need the support of the FBI, which we would never get, permission from the cops, or permission from the parents to dig up the body,” Wynonna explained to her, wishing that the woman could look at the body, too. “And if this town is uber religious…” 

“It’ll be seen as sacrilegious,” Nicole finished and looked up out the window like she was in deep thought. 

Wynonna nodded slowly. “Hell, even if they’re not religious, we’re to expect some backlash. At least from the parents and family. We can try to convince the family, but if we can’t, we’re going to have to get the medical examiner on our side. Or the cops. But I doubt they’ll appreciate us outsiders.” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her. “So, you want to try to convince the parents to exhume their child?” 

“We have to try,” Wynonna shrugged and stared at the open road, avoiding the redhead’s glare. She knew that she was coming off apathetic. Truth was, she empathized with the families more than she wanted to. She just didn’t want the little spy to know that. “Besides, they deserve the right to know what really happened to their kid.” 

“So, where are we heading first?” 

“The morgue. We gotta know how incompetent the medical examiner is before we try to convince the family of the M.E.’s incompetence.” 

Nicole scoffed. “How do you know the medical examiner is incompetent? He might just… not be as good as those in the city, you know?” 

Wynonna turned to look at her, annoyed that she had to explain herself to her. “How do I know the medical examiner’s incompetent? Who the fuck puts in their autopsy that there’s no cause of death? The teen is dead. Like you said, there’s got to be a reason, right? You’ve done plenty of autopsies. Have you ever said the cause of death was no cause of death?” 

She watched as the redhead’s jaw clenched. “It’s different out in the country, Earp.” 

“I know,” Wynonna muttered and shook her head. She grew up in the middle of nowhere-ville. She knew exactly what it was like. “Believe me, ginger-spice, I know.” 

Instead of explaining any further, she turned the music up louder. Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around” surrounded her. The song and the driving landscape reminded her of home, but she didn’t change the song. She never went back to her hometown with her badge to ask questions. This was her chance to do it in a different small town. This was her chance to find the truth for a few families, even if it wasn’t her own.

* * *

Nicole watched the brunette move with a certain swagger, like she owned the land beneath her feet. She couldn’t help but wonder how someone could gain that amount of confidence. She wondered if she was born with it, if Wynonna Earp came into the world believing she owned it. It took years for Nicole to scrap her self-consciousness, her fear that everyone around her was judging her. Hell, she was still working on it, on herself. 

Wynonna approached the nurse at the front desk of the hospital with a charming smile that even Nicole couldn’t deny was incredibly attractive. She noticed, though, that the smile didn’t look very real. At least the smile was different than the one she had when Nicole made her laugh shortly in the car. 

Despite Wynonna’s goth/biker disposition that would turn off a lot of people from a small town, the woman smiled back. “Hi, I’m Annie, how can I help you?” 

“Hi, Annie, I’m so sorry to bother you, but my colleague and I have a meeting with the county medical examiner, but we just don’t know where to go. Can you help us so that we don’t look like complete fools?” 

Nicole raised her eyebrows in complete surprise. Wynonna was gentle and put on a little bit of an accent that seemed to fit right in. She didn’t know why she didn’t just tell the woman she was an agent, but it didn’t seem to matter. Annie just smiled wider. 

“No worries, no worries. I can take you to the elevator if you want! The morgue is in the basement. Dr. Moore should be in his office, I believe.” Annie got up and moved around the desk so that she could lead them to the elevator. She shared another flirty smile with Wynonna and blushed. 

When Annie wasn’t paying attention, Wynonna turned around and gave Nicole a thumbs up and a wink, forcing Nicole to roll her eyes and shake her head in annoyance. It was one thing to be nice, but it was a whole different thing to lie and flirt to get what you want. 

“I’m surprised you two want to talk to Mr. Moore,” Annie said to Wynonna, who was looking at the blonde like she was the most important woman on the planet. “He doesn’t really, well… I shouldn’t say this…” 

“You can tell us,” Wynonna reassured her in her soft voice. “We won’t tell anyone, I promise.” 

“Oh,” Annie said and chuckled softly. “He’s just not the nicest to women, you know?” 

Nicole watched carefully as the brunette immediately became rigid, like she was back to normal Wynonna. “In what way?” 

Annie’s eyes widened. “Oh, he’s just kind of mean. Thinks we’re all dumb. You know. Nothing more than that.” 

Wynonna stared at the blonde closely, like she was trying to read her like a book. Nicole wondered if she was trying to profile the woman, not that she really knew why. She thought the focus would be on the medical examiner. She didn’t know what was so befuddling about the blonde that made the brunette want to give her a second thought. 

Annie stopped when they got to the elevator, looking a little embarrassed since Wynonna stopped smiling at her. “Well, here we are. Like I said, he’s on the bottom floor.” 

Wynonna just blinked and didn’t return her smile. “Thanks.” 

“Oh, well, no problem. I’ll see you later, maybe?” 

Wynonna didn’t respond. She just pressed the button and entered the elevator. Nicole followed her, completely confused by this woman’s strange behavior. 

“What the hell was that about?” 

The brunette shrugged. “What do you mean?” 

“You flirted with the poor girl and then when she mentioned that the medical examiner was an asshole—” 

“I was trying to figure out if the medical examiner was more than just an asshole, Haught,” Wynonna interrupted and stared at her chipped nails like she just remembered they were there. 

Nicole watched her, trying to figure out what was going on in the profiler's head. “You mean you were trying to figure out if he was the killer?” 

Wynonna turned to look at her, her eyes narrow. For the first time, she wasn’t smiling at her, and Nicole didn’t know what it meant. She didn’t know how the switch had turned off, how she could go from happy and flirty to pissed off and angry in only a few seconds. 

“Nah. The victims aren’t just women. I have a feeling that if the medical examiner was a killer, he’d target women in their twenties or thirties that have rejected him or resembled women that have rejected him.” 

Nicole couldn’t help but stare at her, wanting to know what the hell was going on in her mind. “We haven’t even met the guy yet.” 

She just shrugged again. “You can find out a lot about a man by talking to the women around them. It’s just a guess, anyway. I was trying to figure out if he assaulted women, Agent Haught. That’s why I asked her. I wanted to know if he was just an asshole or if there’s something more to it. I thought maybe she was trying to warn us about him out of experience. I needed to know if I was going to have to beat his ass and put him in cuffs.” 

Nicole gaped at her slightly, a little impressed, maybe, or stunned that there seemed to be more about the woman than she had originally thought. “And what do you think?” 

“I don’t know, Haught-stuff. I think that she’s scared of him. But there’s a lot of reasons why someone would be afraid of someone.” 

She felt like Wynonna was trying to say  _ something,  _ but for the life of her, Nicole couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say. For a woman who wasn’t subtle, she was being extremely vague. Somehow, Nicole liked her less when she didn’t explain things through. 

“So, what are you going to do?” 

Wynonna just stared at her, her blue eyes hard and mysterious. “We’re going to interrogate the son of a bitch.” 

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said we should try to get the medical examiner on our side.” 

Her lips curled up into a tight smile as the elevator doors opened. “Well, if he’s a sexist pig, he won’t be on our side, will he?” 

She hated to admit that she had a point. Nicole followed her around the basement, feeling the chill of death. She knew that feeling well, spending a lot of her time in morgues over the years. Her parents thought she was insane when she picked the dead over the living. She didn’t have an answer for them. She never did. Not an answer that they’d understand. 

Wynonna walked with a purpose. It was a different walk than the one into the building. This wasn’t a swagger. Nicole thought that she was walking like she was walking into battle, as if she was expecting a fight.

His office came up on the right and Wynonna knocked on the door so hard that Nicole thought that her knuckles might be red from the force. 

“Come in.” 

Wynonna swung the door open and definitely didn’t have her charming face on. Nicole wondered if this was the  _ real  _ Wynonna Earp. An angry avenger, or something like that. Nicole felt heat rise to her cheeks and she didn't want to know why. 

“Dr. Moore? I’m Agent Wynonna Earp with the FBI. I have a few questions about one of the deceased that you performed an autopsy on.” 

The old and wrinkled man stood up as they entered the office. Nicole thought she could smell formaldehyde coming from him. His eyes were beady and black, soulless. She shivered, knowing that he was looking at her and Wynonna up and down as if he didn’t think they were capable of seeing where his eyes went. Or worse, maybe he just didn’t care if they noticed.

“I’ve performed all the autopsies on the people of this town for years. You’re going to have to be more specific.” He smiled with yellow teeth and thin lips. 

Wynonna didn’t smile back. Instead, she slammed a photo of Lara James on his desk. Nicole watched with trepidation. She knew that Wynonna was going to piss the man off, she just wanted to be ready if a physical fight broke out. She didn’t know if Wynonna was capable of hitting an old man, but she felt like she had to be ready if that was the case. 

“Remember her?” Wynonna asked him angrily, not holding back at all. Nicole couldn’t quite blame her. The man was showing no empathy, making her more furious by the second. “You said she had no discernible cause of death. I feel like that’s pretty memorable.” 

He looked at the picture once and then returned his attention to Wynonna. “You people are back to talk about her again? Look, I answered all your colleagues’ questions when they came. I don’t know why all you people care so much about—” 

“She was seventeen years old, Dr. Moore. It’s not hard for most people to care about a dead girl.” 

He scoffed and shook his head. “I care. I care about everyone who I have to—” 

“If you care about her,” Wynonna interrupted and slammed another picture of Lara, dead this time, onto the desk. “Why didn’t you find a cause of death?” 

He turned red and ran his fingers through his tar colored dyed hair. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.” 

Wynonna shook her head and crossed her arms. “What the fuck did you tell her parents?” 

“Excuse me?” 

She leaned in closer and Nicole held her breath. “What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Tell. Her. Parents?” 

He sighed and sat back down like he didn’t give a shit. Now  _ that,  _ that was Nicole’s final straw with this guy. She tried to give him a chance. She tried her fucking  _ hardest  _ to give him a chance. But it was starting to become apparent that he didn’t care about the death of a teenager. And Nicole couldn’t handle that. She could handle a lot, but she couldn’t handle that. 

“I’ve done hundreds of autopsies,” Nicole finally stated, causing the brunette to turn around and look at her with surprise. “And not once, not  _ once,  _ Sir, have I ever declared no official cause of death. She’s dead, isn’t she? There  _ has  _ to be a reason for that.”

For the first time, Dr. Moore really looked at Nicole, his beady little eyes staring into her own. “So, you  _ do  _ speak. What, are you the brains to her brawn? Do you think you can intimidate me, little girl? This is  _ my  _ town. And if you think the parents or the detectives have a problem with how I handled things, go talk to them. We’re finished.” 

Nicole didn’t think they were finished. She thought they were just getting started. She took a step forward, ready to interrogate him about his job (or just curse him out of existence) when Wynonna grabbed her arm and shook her head, like she didn’t want her to continue. Nicole wanted to continue to fight and argue, but the look in the woman’s eyes made her stop. 

“Thank you for your time, Dr. Moore,” Wynonna said, lacking any emotion at all before turning around and heading for the door.

Nicole followed her out of the office and tried to pretend like she couldn’t hear the man murmur derogatory things about them as they left. She felt the anger surge through her. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew that there were countless men like this, she knew he wasn’t the only one. She had to deal with her fair share of men like this at the academy and in the FBI, but not to this degree. At least, not to her face. 

She turned to the brunette, shaking from anger. “Why didn’t you let m—” 

Wynonna interrupted her by pushing her against the wall. “Take a deep breath, Haught. Do you think I didn’t want to scold him and tell him he’s a piece of shit too?” 

Nicole knew she could move out of the way, knew that she could push her away, knew that she could tackle her to the ground if she wanted to. But she didn’t. She could, but she wouldn’t. She could feel them both breathing for a second, like time stopped. But then Nicole blinked and she woke up. 

“I don’t know what you were thinking, Earp, I can’t read your damn mind!” She shouted back, not knowing what else to do. “You were yelling at him and then you weren’t! What the hell am I supposed to think?” 

She just shook her head and let go of her so that she could pace around the dark and dank hallway. “You’re not supposed to read my  _ fucking  _ mind, Haught! You don’t know a fucking thing about me! All I want is for  _ you  _ to think! He told us something important, did you even catch it?” 

Nicole took a step back and tried to go over the entire conversation in her mind. She hadn’t thought he said anything that was important, anything that could have helped them. She felt like an idiot with her just watching her. 

“Listen,” Wynonna said and took a step closer to her, lowering her voice. “You might be the smartest person in the room a lot of the time. You’re definitely smarter than me. But  _ I  _ understand behavior. I’ve interrogated serial killers and monsters that would make that man piss his pants. I’ve learned how to turn their twisted words into information. I know what that man meant when he talked about the parents and detectives.” 

Nicole didn’t know how to take all of that. Instead, she just tried to keep the focus on the case. “What did he mean?” 

Wynonna just sighed and started walking to the elevator, Nicole following close behind. “The parents, the cops, we can’t trust them. They don’t see a problem with the official no cause of death.” 

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “How the hell would her parents  _ not  _ have a problem with that?” 

“I don’t know,” Wynonna answered and pressed the button for the elevator. “It doesn’t make sense to me either. But it’s something we’ve got to figure out.” 

* * *

She hadn’t meant to get so up in the redhead’s face. Wynonna knew it was stupid of her the second it happened, especially since she knew that could have lost her the job. She understood the genius. She understood how shocking it must have been to meet a man like that for a woman who hadn’t been in the field yet. She had to admit, though, the woman had guts. There was a fire in her that she hadn’t expected. 

“How are we going to approach the parents?” Nicole asked her as Wynonna drove, not as upset with her as Wynonna would have thought. Another surprise. 

“We play like we don’t know a fucking thing,” Wynonna answered and pulled her hair into a ponytail. 

“Earp! Put your hands on the wheel!” 

Wynonna couldn’t help but grin at the woman. She was glad to see that the redhead wasn’t scared to yell at her. Usually, people ran away from her the second she showed her emotions. Apparently, she learned that wasn’t the case with Nicole Haught. 

“Alright, alright. Help me out, will you? In the bag in the back, I have a plain shirt. Really basic. Completely unlike me.” 

Nicole snorted and turned around so that she could dig around in Wynonna’s go-bag. She pulled out the shirt and asked, “what do you mean we have to act like we don’t know anything?” 

“If we’re our normal selves, Haught-cross-buns, we’ll scare ‘em away. We have to act like little FBI rule followers. You know. The dicks.” 

The redhead glared at her. “I follow the rules.” 

“Of course you do. Anyway, we have to pretend like we know absolutely jack shit about this case. In fact, we’re going to pretend like we're here out of procedure. A normal follow up. We can even act like we’re IA or something like that.” 

“I don’t know if I can act like I’m from Internal Affairs… that might be going too far,” Nicole actually attempted at a joke, causing Wynonna to snort. “But yeah, I got you. You think they’ll tell us more if they think we’re not hard core investigating.” 

Wynonna winked at the woman. “Bingo.” 

She pulled into the driveway of Lara James’ home and stared at the house, feeling a wave of familiarity rush over her. The house didn’t look like the one she grew up in—her family was obviously much poorer than this one—but it still reminded her of home. Reminded her of the lack of life in a house after a child dies or disappears. 

“You okay, Earp?” 

Wynonna turned to the redhead and narrowed her eyes at the woman. She truly thought that Haught would have run back to Quantico by now, but here she was, asking her if she was okay. She didn’t understand it. 

“Five by five.” Wynonna grabbed the shirt she had stolen from Waverly the last time she saw her and took off her Jimi Hendrix shirt. She almost smirked when the doctor turned red and looked away. As she put on the shirt, she muttered, “I should have brought different pants. Hopefully, they won’t look down. So, Haught. How do I look?” 

Nicole looked at her quickly before looking away again. “Different.” 

“Perfect. Let’s roll, Haught-tomato.” 

When she got out of the car, she realized she probably should have told Nicole what to say in front of the parents. She had forgotten that the woman had little to no fieldwork. But then again, as she noticed her tremble a little from nerves, she realized maybe the woman could just be herself. 

She knocked on the front door and shivered slightly. Something about this house didn’t feel right to her. Like she had been here before. Like she knew this place. In her dreams or nightmares or memories. When the door opened, Wynonna almost thought it would be her dead father on the other side. But the man who opened the door looked nothing like him and she let out a small sigh of relief. He was older. Less rugged. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, Sir,” Wynonna greeted as sweetly as possible and pulled out her badge to show him. “I’m Agent Wynonna Earp and this here is my colleague Agent Nicole Haught. We’re here for a routine check to make sure that the agents who came to you a short while ago did a proficient job. Do you mind if we come in?” 

He looked nervous. He looked at them back and forth and seemed only a little reassured by Nicole’s polite smile that Wynonna almost believed. He turned around to inspect his house before returning to look at them. 

“Sure, of course.” He stepped to the side so that they could enter the house. 

Immediately, Wynonna tried to take mental notes of everything she saw in the house. Inside, it looked like any normal house except for one thing: there were no pictures of Lara anywhere. It was definitely a red flag. A lot of parents who lost their children memorialized them in their home to remember them. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was something they were trying very hard to forget. 

“Victor,” a woman shouted as she entered the living room, reminding Wynonna of a scary bird, running toward her husband. “Who are these people?” 

“Honey, they’re with the FBI,” Victor told her, looking a little afraid of his own wife. “They’re here for some routine questioning, isn’t that right, Agents?” 

“Yes, Sir,” Wynonna said with a smile. Neither he nor his wife smiled back. “Can we sit?” 

“Of course,” Victor replied right away and motioned toward the sofa. “What would you like to know?” 

When she and Nicole were sitting, Wynonna started. “First off, I just want to say that I’m so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine the pain you’re going through. And if you ever need to take a break, just let us know.” 

The man attempted a smile. “Thank you, Agent.” He turned to look at his wife, but she was just staring at her feet. Wynonna couldn’t help but try to analyze their body language. The way that the woman was cold, yet he kept turning to her for warmth.

Nicole blurted out, “do you want to start with talking about her? What was Lara like?” 

Victor nodded. “Lara was… extroverted, to say the least.” 

“So, she had a lot of friends?” Wynonna asked him, wanting more specifics than that. Usually, parents couldn’t shut up about their kids. 

“Yes, she did. She was a cheerleader, you see. Always was around a group of friends. Very popular. I think it was a bit of a shock, wasn’t it, Mary? We weren’t very popular in high school. But Lara… she was magnetic.” Mary didn’t look at him. 

Wynonna nodded, trying to pretend like she knew what that was like. “She sounds wonderful, Mr. James. So tell me, when did you realize she was missing?” 

Victor rubbed the stubble on his chin as his eyes began to water. “It was a month ago. We—Lara always gets up for school on time. But on a random Thursday, she didn’t get up. We went to her r-room and… she was gone. Her bed… her bed hadn’t been touched. Like she hadn’t slept in her room. We called the Sheriff, who’s a friend of ours, immediately.” 

Wynonna’s heart began to beat faster at the mention of her disappearance. She tried to not think about Willa. She tried to not think about going to her sister’s room and finding her bed empty. She tried to not think about the bright light and the way that time stopped and jumped and passed like nothing had happened. She tried to shake it all out of her mind. 

“What did you think had happened?” Nicole asked when Wynonna didn’t say anything. 

“We—” he choked on his words and shook his head. “We thought she might have gone out to be with friends. Agent Haught, we kept thinking she was going to come home.” 

Wynonna knew that was a lie. She felt it. Maybe it was just a gut feeling, but she  _ knew  _ it. “Where did they find the body, Mr. James?” 

“They—” he looked down at his shaking hands. “I’m sorry. They found her… they found her in the woods.” 

Before Wynonna could say anything, Nicole said, “Sir, she was missing for two weeks but her body showed no signs of being dead for those two weeks. The coroner, Dr. Moore, stated there was no official cause of death.” 

Wynonna raised her eyebrows, a little surprised that the rule follower was interrogating him. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who thought the man was talking bullshit. 

“My wife and I,” Victor told them, his cheeks and eyes red, “we like to think she died in her sleep.” 

Wynonna wanted to scoff at that, but didn’t. “So, you believe that the police did all they could? You don’t think that there was any foul play?” 

He just shook his head. “They wouldn’t lie to us, Agent Earp. I believe they did all they could. We tried our hardest, my wife and me. We tried to give her the best life. We tried to make sure that she was better—” 

“Victor.” Mary’s voice was sharp. Controlling. Victor immediately looked down, like he was ashamed. “Is that all, Agents?” 

“That’s all,” Wynonna said, knowing that it was only just the beginning. “Thank you so much for your time.” 

They weren’t welcome anymore. That was obvious. Leaving their phone numbers behind, she and Nicole got out of that house as fast as they could as if they both knew that something was  _ wrong  _ in that house. 

When they were out of earshot, Nicole muttered, “I’m sure you have your theories, Earp, but even I know something was strange in there. What are you thinking?” 

“I’m thinking,” Wynonna sighed as she harshly opened the driver side door to the car, “that this town is protecting a fucking secret and they’re willing to hide the death of a teenager to keep this secret.” 

The redhead raised a curious eyebrow at her. “What kind of secret are you thinking they’re keeping?” 

“Aliens.” 


	3. (freaking) aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole tries to understand what the fuck Wynonna's talking about. 
> 
> Wynonna and Nicole talk to Lara's friends. 
> 
> Nicole surprises Wynonna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween, Spookies!

Nicole couldn’t help but stare at her. She figured she should have seen it coming, the woman specialized in cases involving unexplained phenomena after all, but _ still. _ After talking to the suspicious medical examiner and parents, she was hoping the brunette would have a theory that had more to do with her BAU background, not aliens. 

_ “What?”  _

“Aliens,” Wynonna repeated with just as much sincerity and got in the car as Nicole did the same. “As in Extraterrestrials. Roswell Greys. E.B.E.s. Zeta Reticulans.” 

Nicole knew that she was being serious, but the words didn’t seem to match up with her tone. “I’m sorry, Earp, we just spoke to incredibly unreliable and suspicious folks, and you’re thinking that it’s aliens?” 

Wynonna pulled out of the driveway and smirked, seemingly completely unsurprised by Nicole’s reaction. “You’re skeptical, I get it. But tell me, why would the medical examiner, cops, and parents join together to cover up the death of a teenager?” 

“Uh, let me see,” Nicole stated savagely without having to think too hard about it. “Maybe the father killed his daughter and he told his buddy the sheriff to help him cover it up. Or maybe she accidentally OD’ed or committed suicide and the parents didn’t want the town to know. I can think of ten other possible—” 

“Lara’s pretty, a minor, and popular,” the brunette interrupted and pulled the hair tie out of her hair, letting it messily fall onto her shoulders (yet somehow it still looked good). “You’re telling me that an entire town all agreed to go quiet over the death of someone like that? Hell, I’m surprised the Oxygen Network isn’t all over this already. With a dead hot girl, I’m surprised I haven’t heard Nancy Grace screaming yet.” 

Nicole had to admit, it was very strange. But she could easily see that strangeness being tied to a massive  _ human _ cover-up. Not some alien conspiracy. Though, she did acknowledge the fact that if Lara did have a lot of friends, it was extremely odd that absolutely no one was asking questions about it. 

“So, you just jump to aliens.” 

Wynonna shrugged as if aliens was a normal conclusion to arrive at. She put her sunglasses on, making it even harder for Nicole to try to read her reactions and emotions. 

“It’s just a theory. The town’s protecting a huge ass secret. I think we can at least agree on that.” 

Nicole nodded, hating that they agreed on something. “Fair enough. But I think there are a lot more logical answers that are much more likely—” 

“Remember, Red, there are other teens missing. A teen every three years or so. Lara James probably isn’t the first one to die, either.”

She felt frustration bubble up similarly to how rage usually affected her, sitting in her stomach and crawling to the mouth. Usually, she could control how she responded to situations. But this… this was beyond frustrating. She couldn’t believe that for a few moments back at the hospital and at the James' residence she actually thought Wynonna Earp might be the real deal. Now, she wanted to bang her head against the car window, remembering why she was here in the first place. To not only render investigating X-Files useless and ineffective, but also to make sure Wynonna Earp would no longer work for the FBI. And right now, Nicole didn’t see how her report would say anything otherwise. 

“Who says they’re dead?” 

“If Lara was found dead after disappearing three years after the last disappearance, those that disappeared every three years are also probably dead.” 

Nicole clenched her jaw. “What if Lara James was murdered by a human and the disappearances are coincidental?”

“Well, the medical examiner said she wasn’t killed.” 

She facepalmed, feeling like she was talking in circles with the goddamn woman. “I thought we both agreed that the medical examiner was lying to us.” 

“His pants are on fucking fire,” the brunette maintained frankly, “but we don’t have proof of that. We don’t have access to her body, Haught-tot. If she was murdered or committed suicide, we won’t know unless someone talks.” 

Nicole rolled her eyes. She thought that was clear. “So, where do we go then, if we proceed?” 

Wynonna snorted. “If? Are you tired already?” 

“Tired of you, maybe. Where are we going, Earp?” 

She didn’t miss a beat. “We have to go to the people who knew Lara the best. Her friends. If anyone isn’t a part of the cover-up, it’s them.” 

“Right, if they aren't the ones who killed her.” 

The woman just shook her head. “If other teens killed her, who wouldn’t want to arrest them? Who would pretend like it wasn’t a murder?” 

Nicole hated that she sort of had a point. Besides, she didn’t see a problem talking to Lara’s friends. They would be more open to discussing gossip and their own theories of what happened. Theories that probably didn’t have to do with aliens at all. 

Instead of saying anything, she leaned back and listened to the music (the song “Seven Nation Army”), thinking about all the possible logical explanations of Lara’s death. Because if there was one thing that Nicole was sure of, it was the absence of alien life on planet Earth.

* * *

She was waiting for it. It wasn’t exactly dread, but it was dread  _ adjacent.  _ Wynonna anxiously tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, hoping that it was coming off like she was tapping to the beat of the music blasting from the speakers. She hated it. Hated  _ knowing  _ it was coming. And Nicole was smart. Coming from her, it’d hurt more. She just knew it. And more than anything, she hated that she fucking cared. Still, after all these years, she cared that people called her crazy. 

It was easy to act like she didn’t give a shit. And to some degree, she had gotten over parts of it. She was able to leave the BAU and work on the cases she wanted, her reputation be damned. And she continued to work on the X-Files, even if everyone was whispering about her.  _ Still.  _ Being called crazy hurt like a motherfucker. 

Not that Haught had called her that.  _ Yet. _ But she knew it was coming. It always did. 

The redhead had gotten really quiet, at least. Staring out the window with what Wynonna could only describe as ‘thinking face’. She bet the redhead was already planning what she was going to write in the report to destroy Wynonna’s chance of truly finding any answers. 

Wynonna cracked her neck. If this was her last case where she could use her FBI credentials to get her into places, she was going to go out with a bang. Fuck everything else. Fuck the report. Fuck the rules. Fuck playing nice. 

The high school they drove up to was different than her own that she went to. Her school was old, decrepit, almost haunted looking. This building was much like the others in town. Renovated or new or just plain fucking fancy. It was odd. Despite being fairly rural, the town seemed to have money like it was suburban. 

“Earp,” Haught finally said as they got out of the car. “We don’t even know Lara’s friends. How will we know who to talk to?” 

Wynonna, unable to help herself, scoffed. “It’s high school, Haught-pocket. Lara was popular. Which means she probably hangs out with other popular kids. I know it’s been a while since you’ve been in high school, but usually the popular kids don’t change. Do you know who I’m talking about?” 

The redhead glared at her. “You’re not my teacher, Earp. I’m not an idiot.” 

Wynonna stopped in her tracks, caught a little off-guard by the woman’s tone. “I didn’t say you were. I just want you to know that neither am I.” 

She watched Nicole carefully as her words sunk in. Even if there was absolutely no way that they’d ever be friendly, she hoped she could appeal to her intelligent side. She didn’t want Haught to think she was crazy  _ and  _ dumb. 

The school was clean. Again, she found that odd. Everything and everyone in the town seemed a few shades off. Like there was something that was just not right. 

There was a man at the front desk of the main office looking all prim and proper and Wynonna sighed with relief when she remembered that she had forgotten to change back into her Jimi Hendrix shirt. She didn’t want the man to just perceive her as just another delinquent, even if she was obviously an adult. 

“Can I help you?” 

Wynonna showed him her badge and tried to muster yet another smile (her cheeks fucking hurt). “Good afternoon, Sir. My colleague and I are from the FBI and we were wondering if we could chat with some of Lara James’ friends to help with our investigation.” 

The man’s eyes widened. “I thought the FBI already came by a while ago and finished their investigation.” 

She could feel the worry and fear radiating off of him. “Well, we’re back. Don’t worry, the kids aren’t in trouble. We just want to make sure no one missed anything. We’re just being thorough.” 

“Oh. Well, alright then. I don’t know who Ms. James’ friends were. The principal, Dr. Ramsey, he would know better. He’s closer with the students than I am.” 

Wynonna nodded, unsurprised by this information. Principals at small schools always thought they knew their students. In this case, she hoped that he was right. 

“Where is Dr. Ramsey?” 

The man pointed down a long hallway. “He’s the last door on the right.” 

She thanked him briefly before heading to the principal’s office, keenly aware that Haught kept checking her watch. 

“Are you in a rush or something?” she asked her under her breath, a little agitated. 

“Sorry,” Nicole whispered back. “I’m starving.” 

Wynonna noticed it  _ was  _ way past lunch time as she checked the time on her cracked iPhone (and ignored the texts from her sister and assistant director Dolls). She had completely forgotten about food. She usually did when she was working on a case. 

“Fuck, my bad, we can eat after,” she told the redhead before knocking on the door to the office. She took a deep breath. She didn’t have the best experiences with principals in her life. She just hoped this one would be easy to manipulate. 

She heard the man tell them to come in and she entered the tidy and fairly large office. The man looked pretty young for being a principal and had a goatee that Wynonna was sure the students would make fun of behind his back. He almost looked like a hippie and Wynonna didn’t really know what to do with that. She was expecting Principal Snyder from  _ Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  _ not the guidance counselor from  _ Freaks and Geeks.  _

“Howdy, there,” he greeted and stood up from his desk to shake their hands. He then pointed to the many chairs in front of the desk. “Sit, sit. You two aren’t old students from here, are you?” 

“No, Sir,” Wynonna answered and introduced herself and Haught. “We’re here just out of precaution to make sure that the other agents who came by did their job proficiently. Do you know who Lara James’ friends were? Can we talk to them? They aren’t in trouble at all, we just want to have a better understanding of who Lara was as a person.” 

The principal immediately went from personable to standoffish, just like the man at the front desk. “Can I ask why the need for an investigation in the first place? Sheriff Bailey didn’t feel the need to investigate.” 

Wynonna tried to hold herself together and not lash out at the man after being questioned about the same thing for now the fourth time. “You see, the case came onto the FBI’s radar when Lara went missing. When she died without a specific cause of death, the FBI was alerted again. We’re here to make sure nothing… sinister happened.” 

He let out a nervous chuckle that Wynonna knew well in her line of work.  _ “Sinister?  _ What does that mean exactly?” 

“It would mean that foul play was involved,” Wynonna informed him, tired of having to explain herself when she thought it was just so obvious that there is something hinky going on when there’s no official cause of death. She felt like everyone should be concerned about it. She felt like the town should be outraged for not having answers. 

He stared at her like she was talking in a different language. “Who’d want to hurt Lara?” 

“Sir,” Wynonna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed with how much time this was taking when the school day was going to end soon. “That’s our job to figure out. That’s why we’re here.” 

He blushed a little, embarrassed. “Right.” He cleared his throat and moved around uncomfortably in his chair. “I can get Lara’s friends down here, but I feel like maybe I should call their parents and ask them what they think.” 

Wynonna froze. That was the absolute worst thing that could happen. “That’s not necessary. The kids aren’t under arrest. They won’t be mirandized. This is not an interrogation, it’s an informal chat.” 

He winced like he still didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m not s—” 

“You can stay in the room,” Nicole interrupted, startling Wynonna, who almost forgot the redhead was there. “That way if we ask something you think is inappropriate, you can tell the students to refrain from answering. We don’t want to be in town that long, Dr. Ramsey, to tell you the truth. We want to be in and out as soon as possible so we can end this investigation.” 

It was smart. Wynonna knew right away that Haught was spot on. She hadn’t expected it. For someone without field experience, she wasn’t expecting Haught to have read the room so well. Hell, Wynonna hadn’t even thought of telling him that. 

The man nodded, reassured slightly. “Right. You two must be terribly pressed for time. Sure, that sounds alright with me. I’ll make sure the students are comfortable with it first.” 

“Of course,” Wynonna said and nodded rapidly. “Like I said, they’re not in trouble. It’s their choice to talk with us.” 

That seemed to convince him. Wynonna knew that if Dr. Ramsey felt in control that he’d be comfortable. It was what made Haught’s interjection so brilliant. Even if they couldn’t ask all the questions they wanted to, it was way better than nothing or than questioning the kids with their parents in the room. Teens were definitely less likely to tell the truth with their parents involved. 

Using the intercom, Dr. Ramsey called three students down to the office. Wynonna knew what that was like. She had been called down to the principal’s office countless times in her youth. She shifted restlessly in her seat. 

The three teenagers looked straight out of an American Eagle catalog and before they said anything, Wynonna knew them. Knew their personalities, their behavior, their parents. It was all in the way they walked and entered the room. 

The first person who entered the office, Tanner Briggs, carried himself like he knew he was important. There wasn’t a resemblance of worry on his face as he entered the room. He knew that there was no way he’d be in trouble. It made Wynonna wonder if he was used to pulling shit and getting away with it. The pristine varsity jacket told her that he was not only an athlete, but he was also a star athlete. He kept messing with his hair, making sure that no small hairs were out of place. He greeted the principal like he was a friend even though the principal was a symbol of authority. Wynonna knew that he made everyone he was around feel like they were special. Especially women. 

The second person who entered the office was Alisha Silverman. When she entered the room, her nervous eyes darted from person until they landed on Tanner. He smiled at her and she lit up, getting rid of all of her nerves. Her nails, long and sharp, were perfect. But Wynonna noticed that around the nails, her skin was peeled and torn. She cared a lot about her outside appearance and was terrified to let anyone know that inside, she was a mess. Her clothes, though seemingly expensive, looked like knock-offs when she got closer. Wynonna wondered if she was pretending everything. Wealth, happiness, authenticity. 

The last teen who entered the room was Dakota Briggs, who was not only tall, but had tall energy. She didn’t look around the room at all when she entered it. She just looked at Dr. Ramsey and sat down, barely acknowledging the presence of anyone else. Wynonna could see her look at Alisha out of the corner of her eye, like she didn’t want Alisha to know she was looking at her. She was definitely rich, but she was cold. Edgy. Wynonna bet that her friends would call her ‘hardcore’. 

“What’s going on, Dr. Ramsey?” Tanner asked him pleasantly, like they were old pals. 

Dr. Ramsey cleared his throat again. “Tanner, Alisha, Dakota, this is Agent Earp and Agent Haught. They’re from the FBI and are here to ask questions about Lara. Are you three willing to answer a few questions?” 

This was the moment Wynonna was waiting for. To see their reactions to this question. Tanner shrugged and Wynonna realized that he didn’t give a fuck. He might have been her friend, but they weren’t close. Alisha started to tear up and reached for Tanner’s hand. She looked genuinely shocked and a little scared. Not guilty. Dakota barely twitched. She looked down at her hands as if she wanted to pretend like none of this was happening. Interesting. 

The three of them nodded and Wynonna stood up so that she could see all of their body language. “I’m Agent Earp and first of all, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m sure that talking about Lara is hard and painful, but my colleague and I are trying to close the case. So if you don’t mind, can you talk about Lara? What was she like?” 

“Lara was fun,” Alisha answered and wiped her tears away with a kleenex that Dr. Ramsey passed to her. “Lara always knew how to have a good time. How to make me feel better. She was the life of the party.” 

Tanner nodded in agreement. “She was so easy to be around. She never really judged anyone. She was sweet, caring. I really miss her. School just isn’t the same without her.” 

Dakota didn’t say anything and Wynonna noted it. “She sounds like a great friend. Can you all tell me a little about what she was like before her disappearance? How was she acting? What was her mental state like?” 

“She seemed normal,” Tanner answered with a shrug (not that Wynonna took anything he said very seriously). “Happy. Cheerful. When I was told she went missing, I was shocked.” 

“Everyone thought she had run away,” Alisha added and tugged at the sleeves of her sweater. “But we didn’t think so. It’s our senior year. She would have never just run off like that.” 

“Would she have run off for a boy or a girl?” Wynonna asked them, trying to get an understanding of what her romantic history was like. 

Alisha tilted her head like she was considering it. “Lara really liked boys and dated a lot of them. If she was serious about one, we would know. Right, Dakota?” 

Dakota rolled her eyes slightly. “Sure.” 

Alisha didn’t seem shocked about her friend’s lackluster behavior. “Lara and Tanner even dated for a while, isn’t that right, Tan?” 

He nodded, stiffening like he wished that she hadn’t brought that up. “Only for a few months. Lara, she… wasn’t a fan of monogamy. And I couldn’t blame her. High school is the time to experiment and have fun. We weren’t right for each other anyway.” 

Wynonna understood what he meant and didn’t feel the need to ask him anymore about it. “What about academics? Did she get into colleges? Did she know what she was going to do out of high school?” 

Alisha winced a little at that. “She told me that she didn’t think that she was going to get into any colleges. She was failing, like, a bunch of classes. I think, maybe, she was thinking about community college.” 

“She definitely could have brought her grades up, though,” Dr. Ramsey interrupted, trying to separate the school from her death. 

Tanner nodded. “I don’t think she was very worried about it.” 

Wynonna couldn’t disagree with that, but most of her attention was still on Dakota, who seemed to get more pissed off by the second for having to be there. Wynonna knew if there was anyone who was going to be honest, it would be her. 

“Dakota, did you know that around every three years, a teenager goes missing in this town?” 

Almost everyone’s eyes widened (especially Dr. Ramsey’s), but Dakota raised her eyebrows and smirked a little, like she was impressed that she asked the question. Like it was the first time the question had been raised. Like she was waiting for a long time for someone to talk about it. 

“I think—” 

“Don’t answer that, Dakota,” Dr. Ramsey commanded and stood up, trying to tower over Wynonna. “I think we’re done here, Agent Earp.” 

Before Wynonna could say anything, Nicole stood up, taller than him. “We just want their opinions, Sir. Unless there’s something you’re intent on hiding.” 

That shut him up for a second and Dakota started to grin. “Everyone’s hiding something. That’s the thing about this town, Agent Earp. This town was built on secrets. Secrets that people are willing to do anything to be kept secret” 

Wynonna’s heart beat faster, knowing she was close to getting the answers she was looking for when Dr. Ramsey slammed on the table. “Dakota! I’m speaking to your parents immediately. All three of you, go back to your classes. This meeting is over.” 

She wasn’t angry at him for ending the meeting at that point. She learned something huge. That this case was about more than just Lara James, but that she was a part of it. Wynonna touched Haught’s arm and motioned toward the door. The redhead nodded, understanding that the conversation was over. On their way out, Wynonna slyly tossed Dakota her card, hoping that the teenager would be willing to tell her more. Dr. Ramsey was still screaming about reporting them when they exited the room, but nothing could destroy her mood. 

Wynonna was grinning. She hit a nerve and she liked it. “Fuck, Haught. We’re finally getting somewhere. Good work in there.” 

A look of confusion flashed across the redhead’s face. “Thanks... Earp. Gotta admit, there’s definitely something going on.” 

That made Wynonna grin even wider. “I won’t say I told you so, but—” 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t. Besides, I’m not saying it’s aliens.” She sounded more annoyed than before, which was something she wasn’t expecting. 

Wynonna winked at her, Haught’s bad attitude not affecting her in the slightest. “Correction, you’re not saying it’s aliens  _ now.  _ I still have time to prove you even more wrong. Now, food?” 

“Food.”

* * *

Nicole was glancing at the menu of the local diner and she noticed that Wynonna was nodding to the music. She didn’t know why the brunette was so happy. They didn’t get any answers in the school, just more questions. And more than that, it was frustrating to her that everything they heard continuously made Earp think that it was aliens. It was confirmation bias at its finest, and Nicole, as a scientist, found that particularly infuriating. 

“So, Haught-tot, you like this music? I’m trying to figure out what you like. You a Velvet Revolver fan?” 

Nicole shrugged, not wanting to relate to her at all. “I don’t hate it.” 

“You don’t—you don’t hate it?” Wynonna asked, completely unimpressed. “What do you mean you don’t hate it? What, are you ambivalent about music or something?” 

“I wouldn’t say that.” She knew she was being annoyingly vague, but the last thing she wanted was for the brunette to know anything personal about her. This was hard enough without having to bring anything like that in. 

Wynonna narrowed her eyes at her as if she was trying to read her. “Who the fuck are you, Nicole Haught?” 

“Apparently,” she said bitterly and changed the tone of her voice, making it sound like Wynonna’s with the little change of accent. “I’m Nicole Haught from the FBI and I’m your colleague.” 

For a few seconds, the brunette was quiet and Nicole wondered if she had offended her. She took a deep breath and watched carefully as Wynonna’s lips curved back into a grin. “Not bad, Haught-shot. Not bad. Your accent needs a little work, though.” 

“Dick.” 

She didn’t mean to say it. It jumped out of her mouth like it came naturally. As if they were two old buddies and had been friends forever. It was weird. Too weird. Because they  _ definitely  _ weren’t friends. 

“Just calling it as it is. So, no Velvet Revolver, then?” 

Nicole shrugged again. “Stone Temple Pilots is just better, Earp. Scott Weiland picked the better band in the end.” 

Wynonna was gaping at her and Nicole mentally hit herself for voicing her opinion. “You’re going to regret saying that.” 

“I will? Prove it.” 

“Wow, you’re suddenly cocky,” Wynonna snorted and shook her head. “I’ll prove it. Don’t you worry, newbie.” 

“Will you prove it before or after you prove the existence of extraterrestrial life?” The temperamental words were falling out of her mouth before she could stop them. She was always overthinking when she was talking to people. Always overanalyzing her word choice before she said it. But here, it seemed almost instinctive. 

The brunette glared at her playfully. “Seriously, Haught? You’re a brilliant scientist. You should be the first person to admit that it’s naive to think we’re the only ones in the universe.”

Nicole had to give her that. “Sure. That’s fine. Believing the fact we are not alone in the universe is perfectly fine. Believing that we’re not alone on the planet? Come on, Earp. Why the hell would aliens come here? And better yet,  _ how  _ would aliens come here? If there’s alien life, I would guess it would be bacteria or something like that. Not little grey guys like from the movie  _ Paul.”  _

The woman just started to play with the sugar packets like they were the most interesting things in the world. “Did you know that some people believe that our life on this planet is alien? That when our planet was practically a ball of fire that a planet made of ice collided with our own, along with its life?” 

She blinked at her, unimpressed. “People also think the Earth is flat and that the Middle Ages didn’t happen. What’s your point?”

“My point is, Haughty,” Earp said and flicked a sugar packet at Nicole’s chest, “you need to broaden your horizons. Think outside of the box. Look beyond the veil. I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe.” 

Nicole rolled her eyes, unamused by her dramatic speech. “I’m sure I wouldn’t believe it.” 

Wynonna opened her mouth to argue when a man in a uniform approached them. Nicole watched as Wynonna’s demeanor changed rapidly. She went from grinning to frowning, from leaning over comfortably to sitting up straight, from warm to rigid. It was as if her spidey senses were tingling, like the brunette knew something bad was going to happen. 

“Are you two ladies the ones runnin’ around town and questionin’ good citizens about Lara James?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D


	4. (bad) evidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna battles the sheriff. 
> 
> Nicole learns that Wynonna might have a secret ally. 
> 
> Wynonna and Nicole dive into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! I made a playlist so everyone can listen to the music that Wynonna and Nicole listen to!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=IyRd-1ECRIe6Jls9MdzghQ>

Wynonna felt her body tense up, reacting to her knowledge that the sheriff was going to try to tear her apart, but she refused to let him know. She was used to this, used to being hated by local police who either hated the FBI, outside law enforcement, or just women in general. She wondered how much more she could get done if she wasn't a woman. Instead of hysterical, she might have even been considered eccentric if she was a man. 

“We are, Sir,” she answered a little gruffly, annoyed that he was interrupting what had been almost an hour of elation for her. “Why are you asking?” 

He placed his hands on his hips, on his weapon. (She wanted to ask him if he thought that his gun made up for his small dick, but she didn’t.) “Because you are aggravating and concerning my town, and that’s my business.” 

“They should be aggravated _and_ concerned,” Wynonna told him flatly, unapologetic and prepared to throw hands if she had to. “A teenager is dead and the medical examiner and law enforcement didn’t provide a reason for her death. This town should be enraged.” 

His mouth twitched. “Who the hell are you to tell me about how _my_ town should feel?” 

“Why isn’t there a cause of death?” Wynonna countered, ignoring his question. “Why didn’t you investigate the death of a teenager? What the hell are _you_ hiding?” 

He gripped his gun harder. “You’re not welcome here, Agents. This town doesn't need your help. It won’t accept your help. I suggest you leave before things escalate.” 

She smiled at him, knowing this only meant she was getting closer to the truth. Besides, she liked angering men. “Is that a threat, Sir?” 

“Get out,” he responded with the shake of his head, “and don’t you dare think about coming back.” 

Wynonna leaned back in the booth, completely used to men yelling and threatening her. It barely made her flinch anymore. _Never show fear._ If she learned anything from her experience with white male rage, it was to act like it didn’t bother her. They usually got bored after that. _Usually._

“Can’t I order some food first? This place had good Yelp reviews.” She turned to look back at the diner menu. “Have you had the chicken pot pie? Is it good here?”

“You little b—” he stopped himself and clenched his jaw. “Just get out of here. I’ll complain to your bosses if you don’t leave.” 

“Oh no,” Wynonna deadpanned. “Not my bosses. What ever will a poor girl like me do?” She turned to look at the redhead to see if she was enjoying the show, but the redhead just looked concerned. Wynonna shrugged and dropped the act. “Sheriff Bailey, do you really think anyone could control me? Please. I’d like to see you try and call them. Now, tell me, what’s good here? I can’t imagine it’s the salads.” 

He grunted, angrily turning around and stomping away. Wynonna sighed, satisfied with how that went. She knew that talk was coming since they arrived in town, she just didn’t know it was going to come this soon. 

She cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Haught, who was gawking at her with an emotion that Wynonna frustratingly couldn’t pinpoint. At first, she thought it was horror, but then it looked like disgust, or maybe even astonishment. Whatever it was, Wynonna didn’t like it. 

“What, Haught-cake?” 

She just shook her head. “What the hell was that?” 

“Listen,” Wynonna started to explain as she picked up another sugar packet. “That man was only going to tell us to do one thing, he was only ever going to tell us to leave. I don’t want to leave and I told him that. Simple.” 

“Simple?” Haught scoffed. “Bullshit. You didn’t have to be so… so…” 

“So _what?”_ Wynonna asked, nerves finally growing in the pit of her stomach in a way that hadn’t happened with the sheriff. 

Flabbergasted, the redhead grabbed the sugar packet out of her hands, genuinely startling Wynonna, who definitely hadn’t expected that. “So antagonistic and fucking annoying!” 

She was expecting something more like ‘stupid’ or ‘manic’ or ‘insane’, something she was more used to being called. Instead, the redhead was just fed up with her attitude. It was startling. She was used to scaring people away. Pushing them away. Not having them yell back at her. _That_ was new.

Trying to ignore her strange feelings about her, she focused on the real emotions that Haught showed. Wynonna liked seeing them from her. It made the redhead less mechanical to her, less put-together. It proved to her that deep down, there was something there. Something the other agent kept hidden. An edge. 

“I’m thinking about ordering a milkshake. How about you?” 

Haught’s glare was hardcore. Intense. Dangerous. “I’m so glad you find this amusing. What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you like this?” 

It was a question Wynonna didn’t know how to answer in the slightest. Honestly, she’d physically run from the question if she could. The answer, she guessed, wouldn’t be one she’d like too much if she was being honest with herself. 

“I don’t know, Red. Why are you such a priss with a stick up your ass? We all have questions.” 

Nicole shook her head. “How the hell haven’t you been fired already with that attitude?” 

“Oh, they didn’t tell you in the briefing about me?” Wynonna asked, putting on the phoniest smile of her life. “I have a fucking high clearance rate. I’m fucking good at my goddamn job. And they know if they fire me without legit reasons, I’ll fight back and go public. And you’re here to find that legit reason, aren’t you, Haught?” 

That shut her up successfully, her cheeks as red as her hair as she returned to staring at the menu blankly. Wynonna wanted to shake her, to wake her up and make her realize the FBI wasn’t her friend. She wanted her to know that the smarter she was, the more they’d suppress her, even if she declared complete loyalty to the bureaucratic company. But even if she wanted to tell her everything, the waitress approached them and asked for their orders. 

They ate fairly silently, which Wynonna detested, wishing that they were back to arguing. Shouting was always better than silence. It had always been a worse punishment. 

“Haught, tell me your theories.” 

The redhead coughed like she was choking on her food. “Excuse me?” 

“Your theories,” Wynonna repeated and took a bite out of her BLT. “You’re brilliant. You must have one.” 

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re admitting it might not be aliens?” 

That was definitely _not_ what Wynonna was doing. “Fine. Don’t answer then. Whatever.” 

“No, wait—I’m thinking it’s suicide. You know how it can spread? How some even call it contagious?” Wynonna nodded, learning that horrible fact early on when she was studying psychology. “Maybe this town is hiding the fact its teens are dying from suicide.” 

“Okay,” Wynonna muttered with a shrug, unsurprised by the theory that wasn’t terrible. “Certainly plausible, even though the suicides usually occur more in clusters than in an equal pattern. But ignoring that, _why?_ Why would an entire town cover it up?” 

Nicole furrowed her eyebrows, obviously in deep thought, and Wynonna smiled a little before realizing what she was doing. “Maybe they’re afraid of bad media coverage. No family would want to move to a town that has high rates of suicide.” 

“Fair enough,” she replied, having to give her some credit. “But don’t you think that by now, after years, somebody would have spoken up? These are _teens_ dead, remember. You and I both know the media would try to find this shit out. It’s just too many people to keep a secret.” 

The redhead glared at her. “And you think an entire town is more likely to be keeping a secret about aliens.” 

“Exactly,” Wynonna responded matter-of-factly. “You have your theory and I have mine. But you’ve got a good point. Either way, it’s a huge secret for too many people to keep. We need to see if anyone’s tried to expose it.” 

“How are we going to do that?” She asked, a curious eyebrow raised. 

Wynonna tilted her head and grinned at her. “I know a guy.”

* * *

Nicole thought her eyes were going to be seriously damaged from how many times she was rolling them. After Earp told her she ‘knew a guy’, she wondered if the brunette only talked purely in clichés and movie quotes. Besides, based on the brunette’s oddities, she bet the ‘guy’ would be another oddball who wasn’t credible.

“What does this ‘guy’ do?” 

Earp narrowed her eyes at her. “Why? Going to add them to your report?” 

Now that Wynonna mentioned it, Nicole realized she probably would add it in her report, especially if the ‘guy’ was a nut. “I don’t know _what_ I’m putting in the alleged report. But I can assure you that if it helps move the case along, I won’t report it.” 

Wynonna tapped her chin dramatically. “You know, Haught-take, I don’t quite trust you. So, I can’t really take your word for it.” 

Nicole gritted her teeth. Just when she thought the woman couldn’t get more infuriating, she proved her wrong. Truly, she felt like she hadn’t met anyone who grated her the wrong way more than Wynonna Earp. 

“Look, will you feel more comfortable if I—” she was interrupted by Earp slurping the dregs of her milkshake. When she tried to start talking again, Earp slurped louder. Four times until the glass was empty. “Are you a complete child?” 

Wynonna grinned. “Only sometimes. C’mon, Haught-stuff. Let’s go.” 

“Go where?” 

The brunette didn’t answer. She dropped a twenty and got up to head to the rental car, Nicole following behind, perplexed. When they got into the car, Wynonna took out her phone and called someone. Nicole was damn-near shocked when she put it on speakerphone. She wondered if there was a sliver of trust there, even if it was minuscule. 

_“Wynonna!”_ the person answered the phone in a hushed tone. _“I can’t help you right now!”_

Now _that_ was something Nicole expected. She thought Wynonna would be upset about it, but the brunette rolled her eyes like she wasn’t surprised or like this happened all the time. 

“Yeah, yeah. I need your help, though!” 

It was quiet for a second before the man started loud whispering again. _“You know I wanna help, but I can’t. You know our boss. He was so angry the last time he found out.”_

“Yeah, well, Dolls is a piece of work.” She paused and looked up into Nicole’s eyes, staring intensely at them before quickly looking away. “Dude, this is probably my last case with the FBI. One last time?” 

Nicole looked out the window, feeling the guilt start to gnaw at her. On the one hand, Wynonna Earp was an unusual and unprofessional agent who didn’t do anything by the book. On the other hand, she was an annoyingly intelligent person (most of the time) and the kind of person who stood up to people who talked down to her. It was admirable, almost. If Nicole didn’t think it was also dangerous. 

_“What? Is this Dolls’ doing?”_

Wynonna sighed and shook her head, avoiding Nicole’s eyes. “Actually, I don’t think so. I think someone higher up wants me out.” 

_“Nuts. Alright, hit me, Wynonna. What do you need?”_

“I’m in Carlton, Oregon. I was only able to find records for missing persons in the town only a decade or so back. A teen goes unexplainably missing every three years. Can you fact check that and see how far it goes back?” 

_“Yeah, sure. Want me to see if I can find these missing people while I’m at it?”_

Wynonna grinned. “This is why you’re my favorite analyst on the planet.” 

_“Seriously?”_

She snorted. “Whatever helps you sleep at night. Ooh, also, can you do a little social media trace and see if anyone is talking about the missing teens? I wanna see if anyone else thinks something wacky is going on.” 

_“Gotcha. That might take me a while.”_

“Call me when you got something.” Before he could have the chance to reply, she hung up on him and shook her head. “God, I hope his phone isn’t tapped.” 

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a little paranoid?” 

Earp started the car. “I’ll have you know it’s my job to be paranoid, thank you very much.” 

She winced, thinking about how exhausted she would be if she was paranoid all the time. “Why do you do that to yourself?” 

“If only it was a choice,” Earp murmured bitterly and shook her head. “It’s my life, Haught. What can I say?” 

Nicole didn’t understand that. She always thought life was just a bunch of choices, despite the shit that came at you. It was her choice to join the FBI instead of be a doctor. She didn’t know that choice would lead to her being an instructor and medical examiner. It might have not gone the way she expected, but it happened because of the choices she made. 

“You were once an esteemed agent of the BAU and now…” 

“Now, I’m Spooky Earp who everyone laughs at for chasing UFOs around the country. I don’t need a history lesson about my own fucking history, Haught. I’m sure you wouldn’t like me going over the details of your life.” 

Nicole flinched. She didn’t realize she was being invasive. She just wanted to understand the woman. She didn’t know _why_ she wanted to know her, she just did. She knew that she should want to know nothing about her, she knew it’d be easier to ruin her career if she knew nothing about her, but still. Here she was, wanting to dive deeper into the profiler’s mind. 

Instead of asking her the questions she wanted to ask, she stuck to basics. “Where are we going, Earp?”

“We’re going into the woods to the coordinates of where they supposedly found Lara’s body. It can tell us a lot about who or what put her there.” 

Nicole nodded, glad that they were doing investigative work that did not include pissing people off or finding facts to back up the alien theory. Though, she wouldn’t have been surprised if the brunette was just looking for alien activity in the woods, whatever the hell that meant. (She prayed to God that they wouldn’t find any mysterious goo.)

“What will we be able to tell from the woods?” 

Earp shrugged a little. “We won’t really know until we get there. But more generally, if the body was found deep into the woods, we’d have to expect the EBE or UNSUB to be someone who has a lot of knowledge about the woods. You know… a local. That’s not always the case, but it’s a fair bet.” 

Nicole nodded, following her logic. “That way, we would have a good guess that it wouldn’t be someone out of town snatching and killing teens.” 

“Bingo. I mean, that’s a fairly good assumption already. Let’s say it was murder and the perp is human. Her parents realized she was missing when they found her bedroom empty, right? So, either she snuck out to meet up with people she knew, or she was taken by someone from her room who was stalking the family and knew the layout of the house. I still think that’s unlikely, but it’s possible.” 

“So, from that angle, you think it’s a townie.” 

Wynonna shrugged again. “It was _your_ theory that this could be just a random murder. Even though her fresh body was found two weeks later and there weren’t any signs of torture or dehydration.” 

“But this is all from the medical examiner,” Nicole argued, realizing this information they were going over could mean nothing if the man and the cops are lying. “How do we know if any of this information is accurate?” 

“We don’t know if any of it is accurate,” Earp explained simply. “We only have the few pictures of her in the morgue. We don’t have any from where the body was found. Which means the medical examiner could have fixed up the body. We don’t know. That’s why I’m hoping the crime scene will at least tell us something.” 

Nicole frowned, feeling helpless and hopeless. “And if it doesn’t?” 

“We move forward,” she answered with a sigh like she knew exactly what Nicole was thinking. “This case isn’t cold, yet, Haught-not-as-in-temperature.” 

“And you’re still sure it’s aliens?” 

Wynonna looked at her and grinned. “It’s just as likely as your theory right now.” 

Nicole pouted slightly, not being able to disagree with her. Sure, she knew it wasn’t aliens. But to be fair, she had no idea _what_ it was. Wynonna was right. It was all just conjecture at this point. 

The brunette turned up the music and Nicole recognized the song. She cringed. In 2020, she thought she would never have to listen to “Informer” by Snow ever again. She hated being wrong. 

“This guy is totally a murderer,” Nicole complained under her breath.

“Eh,” Earp replied, somehow having superhuman hearing. “Still makes good music though.” 

Nicole gaped at her. She couldn’t disagree more.

* * *

Wynonna was not an outdoorsy person. Everyone always thought she would be since she was from a small town, but the last thing she ever wanted to do was be in the woods. Unfortunately, with her line of work, a lot of cases involved the woods or wilderness. And she still wasn’t very used to it.

Haught, on the other hand, looked like she somehow fit in with the landscape, even with her pantsuit on. At the very least, she wasn’t stopping every few minutes out of breath, which was better than how Wynonna was doing. 

“Holy shit, Haught, stop,” Wynonna begged as she placed her hands on her knees, huffing and puffing while the redhead looked hunky-dory. “What were you, a Girl Scout?” 

The redhead stopped and glared at her. “So what if I was?” 

“Do you still remember how to make a fire?” Wynonna asked and looked up at the sky that was starting to get dark. “This might turn into a Blair Witch situation.” 

Haught just shook her head. “Wait, so now you think it might be a witch?” 

Wynonna snorted. “Nope. Just afraid that we’re pretending like we know where we’re going and at some point one of us will toss the coordinates and GPS away and then hysterically laugh and scream about it.” 

The scientist narrowed her eyes at her. “You think I’m the brunette girl in this film, don’t you?” 

“I don’t think anything of the sort,” Wynonna lied and put her hands up like she was surrendering. “Did you know that there’s a Scooby Doo spoof of _The Blair Witch Project_ and it terrified kids so bad that it wasn’t run on TV again. It followed the plot exactly. It’s actually pretty damn good. I found it on YouTube.” 

The redhead started to walk again with Wynonna trailing behind her. “Why do you know that?” 

“The better question is why _don’t_ you know about it? It’s hilarious. Iconic, even. Shaggy, of course, has the best lines. Though I’m sure you’d relate to Velma more.” 

Haught just shook her head again. “You’re infuriating, you know that, right?” 

“Yep,” Wynonna said and jogged a little so that she could walk beside her. She hadn’t noticed how annoyed Nicole was until she saw her face. “It’s a compliment. Velma’s hot.” 

The woman stopped and turned to look at her. “Am I supposed to thank you?” 

“Damn, can’t you take a fucking joke?” 

Wynonna received maybe the worst death stare of her life. “You know what? Not when I’m in the woods trying to find the place where a young girl was found dead. I’m not really in the joking mood.” 

She took a step back and raised her eyebrows. She was trying to make this situation easier with humor. She hated this just as much as the redhead, not that Haught knew that. And now she just looked like an asshole. 

“Shit. Okay. I’m—” 

“Shut up,” Nicole told her and looked back down at the GPS. “I think we’re basically here.” She started to walk toward a large tree and Wynonna slowly followed her, a little confused about what just happened. 

When the redhead stopped, so did Wynonna. She looked around, deep into the woods, and felt cold. Even if she thought that Lara didn’t die in the woods, her heart still sank knowing that Lara was here, that her lifeless body touched the ground. She held her breath and looked up into the sky, wondering if something was watching her back. She knew she had to tear her gaze away before she started to think about her sister. Willa. 

“Haught,” Wynonna called out as she scoped the area and tried to ignore her other thoughts, “I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty damn unlikely that somebody just stumbled across her body, don’t you think?” 

“I agree,” Haught replied earnestly, her eyes watering and slightly red. “Especially since the body didn’t seem to have been affected by weather or damage from animal activity. So, you’re thinking that someone placed the body here and either notified the cops pretty immediately of the location or—” 

“Or the cops helped.” 

Haught silently nodded and Wynonna could see the sadness in her eyes. The woman kept looking around the woods like she thought that if she just looked harder, she would find the answers and make sense of everything. Wynonna opened her mouth to tell the woman that it was never that easy, that she wasn’t going to be able make sense of everything, but the words didn’t come. 

“Fuck,” Nicole finally whispered and shook her head. “Are all of your cases like this?” 

“Pretty much. Ever since I worked for the FBI, these have been the kind of cases I’ve worked on. The motherfucking tragedies.” Wynonna caught Nicole staring at her with what seemed to be pity and she just stared back. There wasn’t anything else to do. “C’mon, Velma Dinkley. Let’s get out of here.”

* * *

It was dark by the time they reached the car. Earp hadn’t said anything as they walked through the woods. Not one snarky comment. The brunette was different, the redhead noticed. Not subdued, exactly. Serious. 

Nicole didn’t know how Earp kept doing cases like this one, how she kept herself together. She figured that when she was working in the BAU, it was even worse. She heard long ago that the people in the BAU were so desensitized, so separated from the cases they were working on that they just stopped feeling altogether. At first, she wondered if Wynonna was like that. Empty and careless. But the more time she spent with her, the more she realized that Wynonna _cared._ She cared about the victims. She was their advocate. Their voice. So much so, Nicole wondered if it was blinding. 

When they got into the car, Wynonna turned the air conditioning up as far as it could go before she started driving. She tried to fan herself, but sweat continued to fall. When she took off her shirt, Nicole’s eyes widened. Sure, she was warm, but she wasn’t _that_ hot. 

It was bad enough _last_ time she took her shirt off. She barely got to see anything last time. _This_ time, she got to really see everything. She mentally slapped herself. She didn’t like Wynonna Earp. She didn’t know why she was still gay panicking. 

“It’s hot as hell, Jesus Christ,” Wynonna muttered as she checked her phone. “Shit shit shit.” She hooked her phone up to the charger and sighed with relief when she saw the little Apple light up. “I’m always afraid I killed my damn ph—” she stopped talking when her eyes met Nicole’s. “What? Fuck, man, you’ve already seen me shirtless, get over it.” 

Nicole snapped her head in a different direction. She didn’t want the brunette to see her get all red. She shook her head at herself. She felt like a fucking mess. 

“Where are we—” 

“Holy fucking shit!” Wynonna interrupted, causing Nicole to look back at the woman. “I think I got a text from the Dakota girl.” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her, not believing her at all. “How in the world would she have gotten your number?” 

“I gave it to her on the way out of the office. Duh.” Wynonna passed her phone over to her. The text read: **her family knows.** She read it like three times, trying to ignore the fact that Wynonna had 137 unread texts. 

“What if she’s lying?” 

Earp glared at her. “Don’t be a party pooper. You and I both know her parents acted weird. Let’s go talk to them.” 

Nicole knew that was probably a dangerous idea considering what the sheriff told them, but she had to admit, she had questions she wanted to be answered by the parents. She couldn’t imagine for the life of her how parents could lie about their child’s death and somehow be innocent. 

“Let’s do it.” 

Wynonna raised her eyebrows like she was surprised that she agreed with her. She couldn’t blame her. Nicole was also surprised with herself. She knew this probably wasn’t a good idea, but she wanted to do it anyway. 

The brunette started to play the music as she drove and Nicole leaned back in the seat, for the first time in her life liking the song “How Soon is Now?” by The Smiths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! :D
> 
> Please ignore my plentiful inaccuracies about law enforcement and etc. The only shit I know comes from my obsession with true crime.


	5. motel (fever)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole check out the parents again. 
> 
> Wynonna gets a phone call. 
> 
> Things happen at the motel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! 
> 
> I updated the playlist to add in the songs Wynonna and Nicole listen to (or reference) in this chapter!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=8sT4sYhhQeqh01fkX2oyFA>

From the outside, the house looked as dark as the sky and at first, Wynonna was worried that no one was home. But before they even made it to their front porch, the front door swung open and they were face to face with Mary James, who looked like a terrifying bird, ready to peck their eyes out. She realized in that moment that the sheriff probably got to the family and told them that they shouldn’t talk to the FBI agents. She knew that they could probably no longer play nice and naive. She sensed that it was about to get intense. 

“Why are you two here?” the woman questioned before Wynonna could even say anything. “My husband and I don’t want you here. Lara’s case is closed.” 

The husband, Victor, approached his wife. He looked more scared than angry. He reached out for his wife, but she just pushed him behind her and stood in front of him as if she didn’t want him to talk to Wynonna and Nicole at all. 

“I don’t think the case  _ is  _ closed, Ma’am,” Wynonna argued passionately, reminding her of how she had to beg her own parents to listen to her about her older sister’s disappearance. “Do you understand how strange it sounds that your daughter doesn’t have an official cause of death? Do you know how strange it is that your daughter was missing for two weeks but was apparently found in the middle of the woods with no signs of physical trauma? Do you know how strange it is that someone was actually able to find your daughter’s body?” 

The woman went rigid for a second before taking a step forward. “You don’t know a  _ thing,  _ Agent.” 

“Then  _ explain _ it to me!” Wynonna shouted back, hoping she would enrage the woman to such a degree that she would spill the truth. “I’d love to know what  _ really  _ happened! Please, explain it all to me.” 

Mary shook her head and turned around as if she was heading back into the house. “You would never understand.” 

“Why?” Wynonna fired back. “Why wouldn’t I understand? Is it because I don’t live in this town? Is it because this town is different? Is it because this town is hiding something that no one is allowed to talk about?” 

Mary froze and swiveled around, looking as white as a sheet. Her husband looked even more startled. They obviously never thought that she would ever figure out that there was a huge secret the whole town was keeping. She knew that they were surprised, horrified even, to find out that they were close to finding the truth. 

“I just want to find out what happened to your daughter,” Wynonna told them, trying to appeal to them as parents, as  _ grieving  _ parents. “I want to give her justice, Ma’am. She deserves that, doesn’t she?” 

Mary stood back and crossed her arms. “Get off of our property right now or we’re going to call the police.” 

Victor placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Mary—” 

“No,” Mary stated firmly. “No.” 

Wynonna turned to the husband, knowing that she had more of a chance of getting the truth out of him. “I know that there is something going on. Something going on that you grew up to believe you had to keep secret. But your daughter is dead. Do you want other children to end up like her?” 

Victor stared at her and opened his mouth, but Mary just pushed him inside of the house to shut him up. Mary threatened that she’d call the sheriff and get restraining orders if they didn’t leave them alone before she shut the door and locked it. 

Wynonna’s heart was racing. She knew how close she was to answers, how it was in her grasp before it was ripped away from her. She knew that if she could have interrogated Victor further that she probably would have been able to get the truth out of him. But Mary, she was a rock. Loyal to her town above all else. Maybe even her daughter. 

“Goddammit,” Wynonna cursed under her shaky breath. “So fucking close.” 

Nicole was staring at the ground and shrugged. “At least we know that we’re on the right track about our theory that everyone’s involved.” 

Wynonna wanted to mumble and complain that she already knew they were on the right track, but she knew the woman was strangely just trying to stay positive and make her feel better about how epically bad that just went. 

She just shook her head, too bummed out to be cheered up. “It’s late. Wanna grab some food and get rooms at a motel?” 

“Sure,” Haught answered with a confused shrug, following her as they headed for the rental car. “But what’s the plan for tomorrow?” 

Wynonna got into the car and slammed the door. She stared at the dark house and felt the dread start to set in. Cases like this one, cases where secrets were buried deep and stuck in the roots, these were the ones that lacked the kind of solutions that Wynonna could find on her own. Towns like these, they teach their children to keep the secrets of the town. Loyalty breeding loyalty. She knew that these were the kind of people that preferred for the secrets to remain buried, even if that meant losing a few of their own. She knew this town because she grew up in one just like it. She knew these people. 

“Earp?” 

She turned to look at the redhead, not ready to tell her that this case was heading in the absolute wrong direction. It reminded her too much of home and what happened there. She couldn’t tell her that her hope was depleting. She didn’t have the strength to.

Instead of answering the redhead’s question, she played the song “Self Esteem” by The Offspring and tried to focus on the music instead. “Did you know, this song basically has the same beginning as “Smells Like Teen Spirit”? I think they got away with it, too.” 

She noticed that Haught was looking at her strangely and she wondered if the redhead had finally given up on her. Or maybe, she considered the possibility the redhead never had any faith in her in the first place. She turned the music up louder and moved to the beat of the song as she began to drive. She just wanted to fucking forget. Forget this town, this case, Willa, and the fucking urge to get wasted.

* * *

Nicole would be the last person to consider herself an expert on Wynonna Earp, but she could tell there was something up. Something… not quite right. The woman couldn’t stop moving, couldn’t stop fidgeting, couldn’t stop twitching. At first, she thought she was just trying to control her anger about Mrs. James yelling at her and not getting the answers she wanted, but as time progressed, it didn’t get better. She thought she just needed to cool off or something, but the brunette didn’t seem to settle down in the slightest. 

She didn’t know what to say or what to do. Wynonna kept mentioning the music they were listening to. She almost went into a soliloquy about the song “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses. She didn’t know how to reply to all the rambling, not that Earp seemed to care. The brunette didn’t really seem to be wanting a conversation. Nicole barely thought the woman was talking to  _ her.  _

They ordered food from Subway and headed to the town motel. Nicole was just thankful that there were two rooms available (the last thing she wanted was to share a damn room with her). Before they reached their rooms for the night, Wynonna got a phone call from the analyst that was helping her with the case. They both entered one of their rooms and Earp put the phone on speakerphone. 

“Whatcha got for me?” 

_ “How did you stumble across this, Wynonna?”  _

The profiler flopped onto the bed, which Nicole guessed meant that she was choosing this room as her own. “It’s an X-File, dude. Why? What’s up?” 

_ “What’s up is you found a case where the whole FBI should be involved. The missing person cases go all the way back as far as they go in the database. Every three years. All teenagers. And from my preliminary search, I can’t find anyone who’s gone missing. So my guess is…”  _

“They’re all dead,” Earp finished and closed her eyes. Nicole looked down at her food, feeling sick to her stomach. “Or far gone.” 

_ “Wynonna, maybe I should tell Dolls. He might want to send the cavalry.”  _

“No one sends in the cavalry for an X-File. Did you find anything else?” 

_ “From what I can tell, no one talks about it on social media. And the local media doesn’t cover any of the cases or mention of any conspiracy theory. People barely search for these kids, Wynonna. It goes ignored. But there is something odd that I found.”  _

Earp sat up, intrigued. “What’d you find?” 

_ “A weird connection between the teens. They’re all… I don’t really know how to put this… they’re all terrible? Like either terrible students grade wise or terrible students behavioral wise. None of their futures seemed bright.”  _

Nicole’s eyes widened. That was either a huge coincidence or could have been a possible motive for someone to kill them. She considered the possibility that a killer was choosing kids who they didn’t think would be missed. 

Earp was staring at her nails and asked the analyst if there were any signs of suicidal thoughts on the teenagers’ social media accounts. 

_ “Not from what I can tell. But obviously, it’s a lot of teenagers to go through to really be sure. What do you think is going on over there?”  _

“Not sure,” Wynonna answered with a sigh. “All I know is that it’s something big. Thanks for all the help, dude.” 

_ “No problem, Wynonna. And seriously. They’re crazy to try to fire you. It’s totally a mistake. I would quit in solidarity if, you know, I didn’t need my job.”  _

Nicole watched as Wynonna rubbed her lips together uncomfortably. He was being kind to her, and it was obvious that the brunette didn’t know how to handle it. It made Nicole a little sad, but understanding. She spent years being applauded for going to med school and getting top grades. She did everything ‘right’ and got pats on the head the whole way. But the second she chose the FBI, that all stopped. Choosing to do what she loved seemed to lead to everyone abandoning her. 

“Yeah, yeah. Catch you later, nerd.” She hung up and finally looked at Nicole, her body language suddenly rigid and calm. It was like a switch went off. Like she was able to turn a part of her brain off and return back to profiler mode. “Thoughts, Haught?” 

Nicole gulped a little self-consciously. “I’m not sure. I guess my suicide theory was kind of debunked. I hate to say this, but—” 

“You’re jumping on the alien theory bandwagon?” Wynonna asked and tilted her head, grinning at her with just another one of her fake smiles. 

She glared at her.  _ “No.  _ I was going to pose the theory that there’s a  _ human  _ predator that the town’s unable to catch and won’t talk about so as to not hurt the town’s economy  _ or…  _ I hate to say it, but what if the town is collectively killing off their troublemaker teens?” 

Earp was staring at her intensely, making Nicole shift uncomfortably. “I could get behind your theory about the town killing off its runts, but there would be a  _ lot  _ of questions. Like,  _ why?  _ Or more specifically, why would they kill every three years? And why wouldn’t the teenagers low on the social totem pole just run away?” 

Nicole had to admit, there were a lot of holes in this theory, but she just couldn’t think of another explanation. And there was no way she was going to admit that the alien theory was starting to seem just as likely as any other theory. 

“I say,” Wynonna declared and jumped up from the bed, “that tomorrow, we just go up to people and ask them about it, point-blank. We just ask them why their teens disappear every three years. I feel like someone will be caught off-guard and mess up.” 

That sounded like a terrible plan to Nicole. “And what if the town forms into a mob and refuses to answer or questions? Or, even worse, what if they  _ attack  _ us? If they’re willing to kill teenagers, who’s to say they won’t come for us?” 

The profiler just grinned at that. “You’re afraid of a few townies?” 

Nicole tried to glare at her even more furiously. “Townies with guns, yes.” 

She just shrugged. “What’s a good case without a little danger? Besides, Red-Haught-Chili-Pepper, I’ll protect you. Imagine what the FBI would do to me if I got it’s prized agent hurt.” 

Nicole did not feel reassured. “Earp, I don’t think—” 

“It’s going to be fine,” she reaffirmed with a sharp head nod. “I’m serious. I won’t let anything happen, okay? I’m reckless, but I’m not  _ that  _ reckless. Meanwhile, we should catch some z’s. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” 

“Whatever,” Nicole whispered under her breath. “See you tomorrow, Earp.” 

Wynonna just saluted to her and Nicole rolled her eyes in response. She wasn’t sure that anything the brunette said could ever reassure her that things were going to be alright. She never knew when to take the strange woman seriously. 

She headed to her own motel room and started her meticulous night routine. The second she got into bed, she realized that she was actually exhausted. Adrenaline had kept her going the entire day and now all she wanted to do was rest. She hoped that maybe once she woke up in the morning that she’d be back in her normal bed and this whole thing hadn’t happened. Maybe she’d wake up and realize this experience was a nightmare. (And she prayed to whoever was listening that she wouldn’t have another dream of Wynonna goddamn Earp.)

* * *

She had texted her sister back finally and reassured that she was fine, that she was AWOL because of a case. Waverly had asked her a lot of questions about Haught, all questions that Wynonna tried to avoid (especially the questions about how she looked). After only vaguely answering some of the questions, she was able to get her little sister to start talking about Rosita and her school work. Her sister then abruptly stopped the conversation and informed Wynonna that Rosita was back. Wynonna was glad to just crawl into the uncomfortable motel bed and pretend like she was tired.

The music was soft in her ears, just in case she actually had the opportunity to fall asleep for a few hours. But her mind was racing, like it always was, and even “Been Caught Stealing” by Jane’s Addiction could take her mind off of the case (and Nicole Haught, if she was being completely honest with herself). Though she had to admit, it was better than thinking about home and Willa. Anything was better than thinking about that. 

The second the song changed to “No Excuses” by Alice in Chains, she could hear the muffled sound of what sounded like an explosion or something similar to it. For a second, she thought she had just imagined it, but then she heard the rushed knocking on her door. 

Cursing loudly, she got out of her bed in just her bra and boxers and ran to the door. Swinging the door open, she found Haught standing at the door, only wearing what appeared to be a large t-shirt with a picture of Sally Rides in her astronaut suit on it. She looked terrified and Wynonna realized that something actually might have happened. 

“What the f—” 

“The car,” the redhead told her breathlessly. “The car is on fire.” 

Wynonna blinked, sure that she must have misheard her. “What?” 

Haught ran her fingers through her messy red hair. “The. Car. Is. On. Fucking. Fire.” 

Wynonna pushed the woman out the door so that she could see the parking lot. Side by side, the two of them looked at it. Right there in the parking lot, the rental car was on fire. She just watched it burn for a few seconds before smiling. 

“You know what this means, right?” 

“Um,” Haught muttered and turned to look at her. “That the car is on fire? Which is… bad.” 

Wynonna shook her head, feeling reassured that she could actually solve the case again. “No, Haught-air-balloon. It  _ means  _ that they’re threatening us. They want us to leave so bad that they fucking burned our car.” 

“And by the look on your face… you think that’s a good thing? You think it’s good that we’re being threatened?” 

Wynonna nodded. “They wouldn’t threaten us unless they  _ feel  _ threatened by us. We fucking scared them, Haught.” 

The redhead was gaping at her. “I’m sorry, do you like the feeling of being threatened? Because I sure as hell don’t.” 

She couldn’t really blame her. After years of working in the FBI, she had gotten used to this kind of shit. Usually not to this degree, but it wasn’t unusual for her to experience getting threats. It meant that she was getting close. 

“Danger’s the name of the game. You should be happy, too. It’s just another thing you can put in your little report against me.” 

The woman frowned and looked away. “If they burned our car, who’s to say they won’t try something else?” 

Wynonna watched the redhead carefully. Her jaw was clenched slightly, her eyebrows furrowed. Her body was trembling but she was making an effort to appear sturdy. Calm. Unafraid. Her brown eyes were steady as she watched the fire burn. Wynonna noticed that in the dark, the woman looked softer. Gentler, maybe. Not weak, but warm. 

The sound of sirens pulled her out of her trance. “We should probably tell the firefighters it's our car.”

“We should,” Haught agreed. 

Neither of them moved. They just watched the firefighters easily put the fire out. 

“You know, you can stay in my room. I can sleep on the floor. Safety in numbers, am I right?” Wynonna cringed at her own words. She couldn’t believe she said any of it. It totally wasn’t her to say any of that. She never gave a fuck about anyone but her sister. It was a rule she made for herself and followed without hesitation. 

The redhead turned to look at her with what seemed to be utter confusion. “I can take care of myself, Earp, thanks.” 

It was like the feeling of whiplash. Or a slap on the face. Wynonna bit her cheek and made it bleed. She remembered why her rule was always a good way to go. 

“Yeah. Whatever.” 

Mindlessly, she headed for her motel room again and shut the door behind her. She ached for the music. She put the headphones on, turned up the volume as far as it went, and played the song “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith over and over until she lost herself into it. 

* * *

She didn’t sleep. Not for a second after she saw the car burn. What scared her more was Earp. Earp and her lack of care that the car was on fire. Earp and her weird attitude about it all. Earp and her asking Nicole if she wanted to sleep in her room. It was all bizarre. Hell, the whole experience had been bizarre. 

When she heard movement in the room next to hers in the morning, she got up, more tired than when she had gone to sleep last night. She didn’t know how she was going to make it through the whole day. 

She showered and cursed the absurdity of her life when the water only came out cold. It felt like it was just part of her terrible luck. She tried to focus her mind on the case to stop thinking about the confusing nature of Wynonna Earp, but she was failing at it. She hated not being able to figure her out. This was why she went into science. She liked facts. Logic. She liked being right and having the answers. 

Her towel was small, of course. And the room was completely steamy even though the water was cold. She felt like she was living a total opposite day. Stuck in another nightmare. 

She opened the door to the room and shrieked when she found Wynonna sitting on her bed holding a box of donuts. 

The brunette grinned at her. “Donut?” 

“How the hell did you get in here?” Nicole asked angrily and checked to make sure her towel was covering her adequately. 

“I picked the lock,” Earp answered like it was completely obvious. “And I got breakfast. For a wacky ass town, they make good donuts. Also, I was thinking. We should go talk to the sheriff. I feel like I can piss him off and get some answers outta him.” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her. “That sounds like an awful idea. But first, can you let me put my clothes on?” 

“You saw me shirtless,” Wynonna commented with a shrug.

Nicole glared fiercely. “I’m  _ naked.  _ There’s a difference.” 

“Whatever.” She turned around and drank some coffee. 

Rushing, she dried her body off and put her clothes on as quickly as she could. She was terrified that the brunette would turn around jokingly. She would have definitely added  _ that  _ to the report. She felt like she looked a little disheveled, a little out of place, but she barely gave a shit anymore. She just wanted to get out of this town as quickly as possible.

When she was properly clothed, she grabbed the donut box out of Earp’s clutches and picked the boston cream. The brunette shrugged at her choice of donut (as if it were a boring choice) and passed her a cup of coffee. Nicole couldn’t get a full grasp of the woman’s behavior. It was always so unpredictable that she never knew what to expect or what side of Wynonna’s personality she was going to interact with at any moment. It was like the woman was a chameleon, constantly shapeshifting and changing depending on the scenario. She wondered what kind of upbringing would have led to that behavior.

Earp was staring at her for a second. “You look exhausted.”

“I  _ am  _ exhausted. I was woken up by the sound of a car practically exploding. Speaking of, how are we going to get around today?”

“I already got another rental. Based on the number of voicemails from my boss, I’m guessing he’s pissed. But like I said, if I’m going out, I’m going out on a bang, right?”

Nicole didn’t know how to reply to that. Earp never really blamed her outright for her imminent job loss, but there were the little jabs. She didn’t even think that the profiler really meant for it to hurt her. If anything, she was using gallows humor to make herself feel better about the situation.

“You already got another rental? How long have you been awake?”

She looked away and had another sip of coffee. “Long enough to get a rental. You ready to yell at an asshole sheriff?”

“I don’t know how that’s going to help us at all.”

Wynonna shrugged like she didn’t give a fuck. “It probably won’t help us. But it’ll make me feel better.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “So, the plan is for you to just yell at him?”

She snorted like it was a joke. “What? Don’t like that plan? I think it’s a good one. Very thought out and everything.”

“You know I don’t like it.”

Earp grinned at her. “I do indeed. I’ll let you pack your shit up. Meet me in the new rental when you’re done.” She didn’t even give Nicole the chance to say yes, she just left the motel room with the box of donuts.

Nicole rushed to get all of her stuff back into the duffel bag she brought along, hoping she would never have to come back to this place. Even though she felt like they were nowhere close to finding out what was going on in the town, she hoped that this would be her last day in the middle of nowhere, Oregon.

At first, she glanced around the parking lot to try to find the new car, but then she heard it. She knew it was Earp right away from the 90s song about masturbation that was blasting from the car. She felt embarrassed to walk up to the car that was probably waking everyone up with the song “Longview” by Green Day.

When she approached the car, Wynonna (wearing her sunglasses that Nicole had hoped burned in the car) stuck her head out of the window and cleared her throat. “You stick out like a sore thumb around here.”

Nicole hated that she knew the  _ My Cousin Vinny  _ reference and thought her Italian New York accent sounded actually pretty good. “Thanks, Vinny.”

Wynonna beamed at her (Nicole thought it might have been a real smile). “And here I was thinking you’d be Mona Lisa for me.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”

Earp pouted at her when she got into the car and Nicole fought the urge to laugh. It was so utterly ridiculous. Obviously, Earp was back to being in a good mood. Like when they were in the diner. Surprising herself, she actually was glad to have this Wynonna back.

The brunette began to drive. “You know, Marisa Tomei helped me a lot when I was younger. She reaffirmed my sexual attraction to chicks.”

Nicole did not want to tell the woman that she could relate. “Good for you…”

Instead of continuing to talk about her attraction to Marisa Tomei, Wynonna replayed “Longview” and sang along to it. She knew every word. Nicole didn’t know whether to be impressed or disgusted.

* * *

Wynonna pulled into the parking lot to the sheriff’s station and took a deep breath. She always enjoyed yelling at law enforcement, but she knew this was important. Despite what she told the redhead, she  _ did  _ have more of a plan. Or at least, the resemblance of a plan. A semi-plan.

“Listen,” she said and turned to the woman who was going to end her career, “it’s probably going to get ugly in there and—”

“I got your back, Earp,” Haught interrupted with a sigh. “I might not agree wholeheartedly with what you’re doing, but I got you. If you need me, I got you.”

She felt like an idiot staring at her with complete shock, but she didn’t know how to pretend to be anything other than surprised. She was prepared to reassure the redhead that she could stay in the car if she wanted to. She was  _ not  _ prepared for the woman to say that she would back her up if needed. She didn’t even know what it was like to have back-up. She had a partner when she worked in the BAU, but that was… Wynonna still didn’t know what that was.

Haught narrowed her eyes at her. “I might not like you, Earp, but I’m not going to let a shithead like the sheriff attack you, alright?”

“Yeah,” Wynonna breathed out, still trying to wrap her mind around it all, “okay.”

The two of them got out of the car and walked right into the sheriff station. Without ever being in the building before, she knew the layout. She had been in enough local sheriff stations to know what they were all like. Ignoring the deputies who were asking who they were, she confidently headed for the large office in the back.

Without knocking, she opened the door to find Sheriff Bailey sitting back with his feet up on the desk as he talked on the phone.

He looked up at them and his eyes widened. “Geraldine, I’m going to have to call you back.” He hung up the phone and removed his feet from the desk. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

“We want answers, Bailey,” Wynonna answered and crossed her arms, trying to signal to him that she was not going to take any of his shit. “Honest answers. Not the bullshit.”

“Answers about what? Lara James?”

“Not just her,” Wynonna seethed, wanting to hit him for saying Lara’s name like he didn’t give a shit about her. “All the other teens that have gone missing in your town. One about every three years, isn’t that right? We know about all of them.”

His jaw dropped, but he quickly tried to recover. “I don’t know what hell you’re talking about, woman.”

“You don’t know about all the teens that go missing in your town, Sheriff? Do you not care about missing teens?”

He scoffed. “Of course I do. But teenagers run away from home all the time.”

“No, they don’t,” Haught replied before Wynonna had the chance to tell him he was wrong. “Kids don’t just disappear like that, Sir. We have a whole team of analysts who tried to find these kids and they couldn’t. Where are they?”

Wynonna found herself shocked again. The redhead  _ lied.  _ It was a good lie. It terrified the old asshole.

“Listen, the parents weren’t worried about it, so neither was I. Maybe they’re all in a snowflake anarchist commune or something like that.”

Wynonna glared at him. “Just because someone’s in a commune doesn’t mean that they’re untraceable. These analysts are trained to find the most wanted men in the country. You think they couldn’t find a couple of teens?”

He clenched his jaw and his fists. “I don’t know what the FBI is capable of. All I know is that none of this is any of your business. This isn’t your town, Agents.”

She just shrugged. “It isn’t our town. But the FBI, Sir, we can investigate anywhere. I wonder what would happen if I talked to all the parents and families of the kids who went missing. I wonder if all of them share your sentiment. Maybe they do. Even so, we’ll spend weeks talking to each one of them.”

Sheriff Bailey dramatically shook his head. “No, they won’t talk to you.”

Wynonna felt like she was close to breaking him wide open. “Why’s that?”

“Because they know what happened!”

Blood rushed to her head. They were so close. They were a moment away. She could feel Haught shift next to her. She knew the redhead knew, too.

“And what happened?”

“They—” he stopped and gaped at them like he realized what he had done. She knew at that moment that she lost him, that she wasn’t going to get the answers she was looking for. “Nothing. Nothing happened. That’s it.”


	6. getting answers (?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna gets a call that threatens solving the case. 
> 
> Nicole finds herself making decisions she doesn't quite understand herself. 
> 
> Lots of shit happens, IDK what to say at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! 
> 
> Here's the updated playlist:
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=5Kx2D6OdT7qPEeqo-OyD5w>
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“You and I both know that there’s something going on,” Earp furiously accused, her body almost shaking from the anger. (Nicole was fairly impressed that she wasn’t backing down, even after the disappointment that he wasn’t going to talk.) “You and I both know that teenagers are going missing every three years. You can pretend like nothing’s going on, but I  _ know  _ that you’re hiding something. Maybe I should call all the media agencies I know. Make this town the target of investigative journalists trying to make ends meet.” 

He grimaced. “You wouldn’t.” 

“I would. Fuck it, I wouldn’t even hesitate. Maybe I can find a few podcasters. They seem geeky, but they’re actually really ruthless. I could ensure that no one would leave your precious town alone for years. Do you want that?” 

“That’s it,” he said and picked up his phone, “I’m calling your boss. Assistant Director Dolls, right? I’m not sure he’d be happy to hear that one of his agents is threatening local law enforcement.” 

“Eh,” Nicole commented with a shrug, backing Earp up like she promised. “He gets these calls all the time. I’ve worked with Agent Earp for a while now, and she’s had more complaints than anyone in our division. No one really seems to mind her tenacity.” 

Earp quickly turned around to look at her and flash a smile. Nicole tried her hardest not to return the smile in front of Bailey. She forgot how much she enjoyed yelling at asshole men. When she was still in medical school, back when everyone still considered her a practical prodigy, she was able to stand up for herself. But the second she chose the FBI, she found herself hiding and cowering in the shadows. She got into the FBI because she was smart, but she knew she wasn’t special. 

“Besides,” Earp added with a smug grin. “I’m sure you wouldn’t like us to start a different investigation about who actually burned our car. The FBI certainly would like to know who should pay for damages. I could tell them to start their search here if you want.” 

He balked and shook his head. “We had nothing to do with that.” 

Nicole hadn’t thought Bailey was involved, but he looked like he was lying. 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Sure you didn’t. I’m going to make life hell for you, Sheriff Bailey. Or, you can just tell us what’s going on. We don’t have to bring the media circus in.” 

Sheriff Bailey frowned and started rubbing his fingers together nervously. “Look,  _ woman.  _ Go back to fancy Quantico. The issues in my town shouldn’t bother you. Just walk away. I won’t go to your boss and you won’t go to the press. Simple.”

Nicole nervously watched Earp, not knowing what was going to happen. She didn’t think the profiler would give up, but it would have been an easy break. Nicole didn’t even know what she wanted to happen. On the one hand, for decades teens had been going missing without a care in the world. On the other hand, she didn’t want to get into trouble too.

Wynonna just started laughing. “You’re serious? We uncovered a history of teenagers in this town disappearing and you want us to just forget about it?” 

He just continued to shake his head. “You’re making a mistake, here.” 

She scoffed. “And you’re a monster. I don’t make deals with the devil, Sir. Come on, Haught. Let’s get out of here.” 

Nicole ignored that Earp flipped everyone off as they exited the building. She might not have agreed with how this case was handled so far, but she understood at that moment why it was important for them to be there. The man obviously didn’t care about Lara James or any of the other teenagers. If this town wasn’t going to care about its own, who would? 

Earp walked with a purpose on the way to the car. Like she didn’t give a fuck about what anyone else in the world thought about her. For a second, Nicole wished she could be the same way. Wished that she could be her complete self and still have complete confidence in herself.

When they got in the car, Earp’s body language changed rapidly. She started banging on the steering wheel, murmuring “fuck” over and over again under her breath. Nicole did a double-take. It made her wonder if the confidence was fake or exaggerated. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was keeping herself together in front of the sheriff’s station just for show. She always thought Earp’s confidence was real, but maybe it was all just an act. Or maybe parts of it were an act. Either way, she felt like the more she got to know Wynonna Earp, the more complicated she seemed to be. 

Nicole didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know if she should comfort her or ignore her or tell her to snap out of it. If anything, she understood how she was feeling. The rage that they were never getting the answers they wanted. 

“Look,” she said, trying to summon the words and not screw everything up. “I’m mad too, Earp. But—” She was interrupted by Earp’s ringtone. 

She looked at her phone and shook her head. “We’re in trouble, now.” She picked up the phone and did  _ not  _ put it on speakerphone. She didn’t have to. Nicole could hear the person yelling at her. Her boss, she presumed, commanded them to return to Quantico. Wynonna didn’t get a word in edgewise. She didn’t even have the chance to say explain herself. He just hung up before she had the chance to say anything. 

Earp slammed the steering wheel a few more times. “Shit. He just said that we have to go back. That he has agents from Oregon’s field office ready to come get us if we don’t get on a flight back to DC immediately.” 

Nicole frowned and stared out of the passenger side window. She wanted to solve this case too, but she cared about this job. Listening to her superiors wasn’t a question like it was for Earp. She knew that she had to if she was going to have a future in the FBI. It was a bureaucracy. A hierarchy. If she was to go up the ladder, she had to play by the rules. 

“Look, I don’t want to leave, but if we have to…” 

“No,” Earp stated firmly and started the car. “No. We might not have a lot of time left, but I’m not going to give up. Not now.” 

It was admirable, but Nicole knew this fight couldn’t last. They couldn’t outrun the FBI. “Earp…” 

“Listen,” the brunette explained as she pulled out of the parking lot, her voice gentler than Nicole had expected, like this was more of a confession than an excuse. “I know what it’s like to be in a town like this. I know what it’s like… I know what it’s like to be left behind, Haught. To lose someone and be… left behind. If we don’t do something, there’s going to be another teenager that goes missing in three years. And it’s not just the teen that’s affected, Haught, it’s everyone else. Everyone that loves them loses a part of themselves.” She was quiet for a second, leaving Nicole to think about what Wynonna could be referencing, what tragedy she must have gone through. “But I don’t expect you to go down this rabbit hole with me. I can drop you off at an airport if you—” 

“No,” Nicole interrupted, barely thinking her decision through. Fuck, she wasn’t thinking at all. “I said what I said, Earp. I got your back on this one. Okay?” 

The profiler swiftly turned to glance at her, her facial expression softened. If she was shocked, Nicole thought she was hiding it well. Her lips curled into a genuine smile. 

“Breaking the rules, Haught-yoga. How does it feel?” 

Nicole’s stomach rumbled with queasiness. “It feels like I’m going to be sick.” 

Wynonna laughed and it immediately made Nicole smile in response. “Shit, dude. Don’t puke in the car. Here, pick a song.” 

She tossed Nicole her cracked iPhone. She scrolled through Wynonna’s Spotify liked songs and was surprised to find songs that weren’t 90s rock hits. She picked a song that she loved, but more than that, she picked it because it was a song she never expected the brunette to listen to. 

Earp tilted her head when the song began. “Interesting choice. This song reminds me of my m—it’s a good song.” 

Nicole didn’t ask her about what the profiler was going to say. Instead, she leaned back and listened to “yellow is the color of her eyes” by Soccer Mommy as Wynonna told her about going to see the performer open for Wilco. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she was a part of something bigger than herself. She felt anxious, but real. Alive.

* * *

Wynonna only let her choose the one song. It wasn’t like Haught chose wrong, necessarily, but she didn’t want to give the redhead so much power. Besides, Haught was going to get her fired. She wasn’t supposed to let her choose the music at all. She picked the song “Halfway to Hell” by Eliot Sumner and told her the plan. 

She had to admit, her plan wasn’t the greatest. For the first time, though, Haught hadn’t argued with her about it. The plan was to just interrogate as many townies as possible before they were dragged away by Oregon field agents. They were going to try to start with Dakota, but since she was a minor, getting to talk to her without her parents was going to be difficult. 

After receiving the teen’s address from her favorite FBI analyst, Jeremy Chetri, they arrived at her house. All of the houses in the neighborhood were what Wynonna would call ‘McMansions’, but then when she really thought about it, almost all of the houses they passed by were like that. Even the condos looked fancier than most. 

Dakota’s house was just like the rest on the block. Annoyingly cookie cutter. It reminded Wynonna of one of those houses in a Hallmark movie. So white, so rich, so blah. She shivered as they walked up the steps of the porch. 

Wynonna knocked on the door, hoping that it would be Dakota answering the door. She wondered for the briefest of seconds if she could pretend to be a teenager and ask the parents if Dakota wanted to hang. She cringed at her own thought (she didn’t want to be one of those twenty-nine-year-olds who thought they were eternally young) and came up with a better role to play.

Before the door opened, Wynonna leaned over and whispered, “Haught, do what you do best.” 

The redhead’s eyes widened like she was completely bamboozled. She opened her mouth to question her, but the door opened, interrupting any sort of communication. Wynonna just hoped that she would get what she meant eventually. 

A woman was standing at the door, wearing a tracksuit. At first, Wynonna thought she was face to face with the mom in  _ Mean Girls  _ played by Amy Poehler. But she quickly realized the face was different. She looked older. Meaner. She stared at Wynonna’s clothes (the bomber jacket, crop top, and liquid leggings) with a look of utter disgust. 

Unable to come up with a name on the spot, she thought of a character she was sure that the mother was unaware of and put on a little bit of a southern accent. “Hi, Mrs. Briggs. I’m Idgie Threadegoode and this is—” 

“Ruth Jamison,” Haught finished and grinned, knowing the reference right away. 

Wynonna tried to hide her fierce relief that Haught knew about  _ Fried Green Tomatoes  _ and was able to put on a little southern charm. “Morning, Ma’am! We’re visitin’ teachers from Alabama volunteerin’ at the local school. We were wondering if we could talk to your daughter, Dakota, for a few minutes.” 

The woman raised her eyebrows slightly like she was trying to get a read on them. It reaffirmed Wynonna’s belief that the whole town was in on this secret and fear of outsiders. In most other small trusting towns, no one would even question them. 

She turned around and shouted, “DAKOTA! SOMEONE’S HERE FOR YOU!” She turned back to look at them with a tight smile. “I hope that girl heard me. She’s always got those headphones on.” 

Wynonna’s smile remained firm. “Kids these days.” 

Dakota, who still reminded Wynonna of the popular loner blonde from  _ One Tree Hill _ , groaned as she approached them. “Who is—” she stopped talking when she saw them. For someone who didn’t show much emotion, she looked fairly startled. 

“Dakota!” Wynonna said, putting a stronger emphasis on the accent to try to signal to the teen that they were pretending to be people they weren’t in front of her mother. “Remember me? Ruth and I came and talked to your English class the other day. We were wonderin’ if we could talk to you for a few minutes about the project you’re workin’ on.” 

She gulped and nodded. “That’s fine, I guess. Mom, can you give us a little space, or what?” 

The mother rolled her eyes and entered the house to close the door, leaving them outside alone. Wynonna felt a surge of excitement. She had thought the teen was going to be off-limits, but she thought that maybe, for once, she’d actually have access to answers. 

Dakota crossed her arms and glared at them, obviously a little pissed off. “What are you two doing here? I heard the town is ready to kick you out with pitchforks and guns.” 

Wynonna let go of the accent. “Look, kid, we wanna know what’s going on in this town. We know that there’s something up. We know about the teens going missing. We just don’t want this to continue. We want Lara to be the last teen that goes missing or dies in this town.” 

Dakota pushed back her straightened hair behind her ears. “Fine, but we’re going to have to be quick or my mom will come back out and ask questions. And I don’t want anyone to see us together.” 

Wynonna nodded, agreeing with those terms. “Dakota, what can you tell me about this town?” 

“My family, we’re not like most of them. We moved here when I was little. Most people in this town, they’ve been here for generations. My parents moved here because of the wealth. Everyone seems to succeed here, you know? But, as I’m sure you’ve totally realized, this place doesn’t like outsiders, it likes loyalty. We didn’t have to do a blood oath or anything like that, but…” she trailed off and looked down at the ground. 

“But what, Dakota?” Haught asked her gently. 

The teenager sighed. “But we were pretty much told that if we didn’t comply with the town’s rules, the town norms, the town secrets, we wouldn’t be able to stay. And you have to realize, my parents have gotten so much richer in this town. They think it’s a blessing. They’ve just… assimilated, I guess.” 

Wynonna was trying to connect all the dots, but she knew that there was a huge hole in the story, something that the teenager  _ wasn’t  _ saying. “Right, but what’s this secret that the town is hellbent on protecting?” 

She rubbed her lips together nervously. “They say that if anyone tells, we’ll lose our fortunes. I’ve heard that it’s happened to people before.” 

“What?” Wynonna asked, confused. “What happened to them? Were they told to leave the town?” 

Dakota shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I’m not really… willing… to find out. I don’t even know much. They don’t tell us much. I just know that this town will do  _ anything  _ to maintain its prosperity.” 

“Dakota—” 

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted with a shake of her head. “I can’t tell you anymore. I  _ can’t.  _ But, listen. Lara’s dad? I heard he tried to talk about the secret at her funeral. He’s breaking, Agent Earp. If anyone’s going to talk, it’s him. He goes to the cemetery every day to see Lara, if that helps.” 

Wynonna nodded, feeling a mix of strange emotions. “Alright. Thank you, kid. Any information helps us. Stay safe and keep your head down, okay?” 

She smiled softly for the first time. “Got it. It’s all I’ve ever done.” 

Haught thanked her before the two of them quickly returned to the car, hoping that no one had seen them at the teen’s place. Wynonna did not want to get Dakota or her family in trouble. She didn’t know what the punishment was for talking to outsiders, but she could imagine it wasn’t a good one. 

“How are we going to talk to Mr. James?” Haught asked as she started driving again. “His wife will never let us near him.” 

Wynonna nodded in agreement. “That’s why we need to get him alone.” 

* * *

Nicole was tired and hungry. They had been waiting in the cemetery parking lot for hours, hoping that Victor James would show up without his wife. Wynonna hadn’t called it a stake-out, but it was definitely what it was (except for having junk food). Instead, she had to listen to more of Earp’s music while the brunette ignored calls and texts from her boss, who was demanding for them to get a flight and return to Quantico. It wasn’t like she hated R.E.M., she was just tired of the genre. She even liked the song “Bad Day”, but she missed silence and was getting a headache thinking about her possible punishments in the future. She was sure she could blame the whole thing on Earp, but that seemed so wrong. She decided to stay. It was  _ her  _ stupid choice. 

“If we don’t see him come out in the next ten minutes can we at least go get some water? I’m so dehydrated.” She rested her head on the window, feeling restless. 

“Want some gum?” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her. “You think that’ll fix being dehydrated?” 

Wynonna shrugged. “It adds some moisture.”

Despite having a headache, she felt the urge to laugh, especially when the brunette started to grin at her. She hated that she was starting to find some of her humor funny. She blamed it on the mere-exposure effect. 

“I also have to pee,” Nicole added and shifted uncomfortably, annoyed that Wynonna seemed to be doing just fine just sitting there for hours.

“My little sister used to have this theory that if you needed to pee, all you need to do is sit under extreme heat. She thought the sun would make it all evaporate.” 

Nicole shook her head and couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s ridiculous.” 

Wynonna smiled. “Can you believe that she’s getting her PhD in anthropology right now?” 

She couldn’t help but be a little surprised. When Earp talked about her sister, she seemed so different. Happier, almost. Very genuine. It almost made Nicole like her for a moment. 

“You seem so proud of her,” Nicole said with a small smile. “I was an only child. I wish I had siblings growing up. I feel like I missed out on so much.” 

Wynonna looked down at her hands, like something Nicole said had made her sad. Nicole frowned seeing her like that. She guessed that there was something there, something tragic in her life that had to do with her family. She remembered how Earp told her earlier that she was the one who was left behind. Nicole wondered what that meant.

Nicole was about to apologize when she saw a car pull up in the parking lot. The man who came out of the car was familiar.  _ Victor James.  _ Her heart started to race. This could be their chance.  _ Finally.  _

“Earp!” 

The profiler looked up and jumped out of the car. Nicole followed her, not exactly sure  _ what  _ was about to happen. She was just sure something was going to happen. She could feel it in her bones. 

They followed him as he walked toward the headstones. He jumped when Wynonna called out his name. He looked paler than the previous day and was much more skittish. The man was obviously not doing well. 

“Wh-what are you two—” 

“Please just listen for a second, Mr. James,” Earp begged, all the intimation leaving her body at once. 

“My wife doesn’t want—” 

“Your wife doesn’t understand that we’re not the bad guys. We just want to find out what happened to your daughter and prevent it from happening again.” When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “Victor, I know that you loved your daughter. Fathers and daughters, they have a special bond, right? She was your little girl. We just want to know what happened to her so that other parents don’t go through what you went through.” 

He ran his fingers through his oily hair as his eyes started to water. “You know, I always knew that the kids  _ had  _ to be sacrificed. I knew they did. And I—I didn’t do anything about it because I—I never thought in a million years that the kid that had to be sacrificed would be my own.” 

Nicole thought she must have misheard. She felt like throwing up. She was not expecting any of that. Especially not the word ‘sacrifice’. She noticed that Wynonna, however, didn’t even blink. 

“Sacrificed to who, Victor? Or what?” 

He licked his lips nervously.  _ “Them.  _ The Aôroi, we call them. They—we don’t know why they chose our town. But they did. And now we have to sacrifice our children to them.” 

“What are they, Victor?” 

He started to shake. “Demons. Or sorcerers.  _ Something.  _ I don’t know. I—no one has ever  _ seen  _ them. Not in our generation.” 

Nicole didn’t believe it. She didn’t believe in demons or sorcerers or anything like that. And if no one saw them… she couldn’t believe how the town could kill for them. 

“But you sacrifice the kids because…” 

Tears started to rapidly fall from his red eyes. “We’ve been sacrificing teens every three years. When our town started two hundred or so years ago, it was poor. But then The Aôroi came. And they promised the town prosperity, you see? The townspeople, they didn’t believe it. But then the crops started to finally grow and everyone had enough to eat. The Aôroi came back and told them that they had to kill every three years. That the—” his voice broke and he had to look away. “That the blood of the young would flow into the earth and bless the ground. I know what it sounds like. But anytime the town didn’t kill a teen, there was a decline. Once the ritual happens, everyone in the town limits succeeds. Prospers.” 

Nicole thought about the wealth of the town. The huge houses, the fancy schools, the perfect agriculture. It was strange, but she never thought it could have to do with  _ this.  _ Even so, she didn’t believe in these magical creatures. She didn’t know how he (or the rest of the town) believed a stupid story like that one.

“Who decides who dies?” Wynonna asked, her facial expressions impenetrable as always. “And who does the killing?” 

“It’s decided statistically. There’s a formula to find which teen is—oh god. We wanted her to bring up her grades and stop partying, but we couldn’t—I never thought she was at the bottom. Never.” 

“Who does the killing, Victor?” 

He placed his head in his hands. “A different person does it every three years. I don’t know who killed Lara. It doesn’t matter. It’s  _ done.”  _

Earp’s eyes found Nicole’s. She didn’t know if the profiler was believing a word she said, but she motioned back to the car. 

“Thank you for telling us, Vic—” 

“You have to understand,” Victor shouted and suddenly grabbed Earp’s arm. “It’s been like this for hundreds of years. For as long as this town has been around. And we have all done well for so long…” 

Wynonna pulled away from his grip on her, obviously trying very hard to not get angry or aggressive. “Sir—” 

“I never thought they’d pick Lara! I never—” 

“And if it was one of your friends’ kids, you wouldn’t have given a shit,” Earp interrupted and started to back away from him. “Hell, you would have celebrated.” 

He looked horror-stricken. “Are you saying this is  _ my  _ fault?” 

Instead of answering his question, she just shook her head and turned around to walk away. Nicole followed her, almost jogging back to the car. She had a feeling that Wynonna was just as disturbed by the conversation as she was. Because as much as she didn’t believe in these so-called “Aôroi”, he didn’t seem to be lying. 

She stopped abruptly when Wynonna stopped, staring at the men standing around their rental car. Nicole didn’t know who they were exactly, but she knew they were agents. That they were probably there to collect them, to drag them back to Quantico. For a second, she thought that the profiler was going to book it and run, but instead, the woman just raised her hands up in surrender.

“We’re here out of orders from Assistant Director Dolls,” one of the men said and opened the back door of their rental. “We’re going to take you to the airport for a flight back to Virginia.” 

The two of them begrudgingly got in the back of the car. She opened her mouth to ask Earp about her opinions about the case when the woman shook her head and mouthed the word ‘later’. Nicole rolled her eyes and nodded reluctantly. Wynonna was apparently paranoid about the agents listening in on their conversations. 

Nicole just looked out the window on the ride to the airport. She didn’t know what to make of Victor James’ story. She wondered if the town was under some group delusion or hallucination. She considered the water being poisoned or there being a town drug problem. She even thought about the possibility of cult mentality and how loyalty to a group could get peaceful people to do the most immoral things. Whatever it was, she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. 

She had no idea what she’d write for the report. They might have not caught a killer, per se, but they uncovered  _ something.  _ A town conspiracy, maybe. She didn’t know what the hell she’d call it. She was sure that if she wrote it up honestly, she’d become the laughing stock of the FBI. Spooky Haught, they might call her. 

She knew the easy solution. Blame Earp and say that her investigation skills were poor. It was what her bosses wanted. She knew it was the only way that she could get out of working at the academy. It was her chance to move forward. Maybe her only chance.

* * *

The insufferable Oregon field agents didn’t leave until they boarded the plane. Wynonna continuously sent aggressive glares their way. She hated agents like them. Bureaucratic idiots who focused on jumping the ladder and following Big Brother’s policies. She tried to be one of them for a while, but it didn’t stick. 

She did feel a resemblance of relief that they grabbed them when they did. If they arrived ten minutes earlier, they wouldn’t have had the chance to get the answers from Victor. Those explosive answers still terrified her and intrigued her all at once. She definitely hadn’t expected  _ that.  _ Though, who knew? Maybe the “Aôroi” were alien. Or maybe, they were something completely different. 

She knew that Haught was going through a mindfuck moment. Though, knowing the redhead, she was sure she’d be coming up with scenarios that could be proven by history or science. She wondered what she’d say on her report. What excuses she’d give. 

When they finally sat down in their seats on the airplane, she turned to the academy teacher. “You okay, Haught-pickle?” 

“I’m fine,” she replied a little harshly. “I’m frustrated and confused, but fine.”

“Yeah,” Wynonna said and pulled out her headphones. “All I know is that I’ll have to come back in three years.” 

Nicole gaped at her. “Are you serious?” 

Wynonna didn’t know whether to be offended or appalled. “Of course. I’ll monitor it, maybe try to lead some media onto it. But of course, I’ll be there. There’s no way I wouldn’t be there. Someones gotta try to help those kids.” 

The woman nodded a little solemnly. “Do you really think the land is cursed? That the blood—” 

“The fact of the matter is,” Wynonna interrupted, not wanting to hear her tell her why she thought it was impossible, “it doesn’t matter if the land is actually cursed or if I believe it. What matters is that  _ they  _ do. That’s all that matters.” 

She didn’t give the redhead the opportunity to argue. Despite the fact that she didn’t hate her as much as she thought she would, this woman was going to end her career. This was her last case working for the FBI. It was a fucking bummer. She put her headphones on and listened to her playlist of thought-y songs. Songs that she could focus on to get her mind off of everything else. She didn’t want to think about the case, her career ending with the FBI, or Nicole Haught. She just wanted to think about the song “Strange Things” by Marlon Williams and let go of everything else. 

When she felt someone touch her, she almost jumped out of her skin. She opened her eyes and found Nicole looking a little startled. 

“Sorry for waking you. We landed.” 

Wynonna nodded and gathered her shit together. She hadn’t even planned on falling asleep. She never allowed herself to fall asleep in public or around people. She was only ever able to fall asleep around Waverly. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she probably was. 

They exited the airplane in silence. It was uncomfortable. Chilling, almost. She wouldn’t have ever considered them friends, but they were almost getting along before they were caught. And now, she didn’t know what was happening. She thought that maybe the redhead was feeling guilty about having her get fired. Or maybe the case was still bugging her. She didn’t know what it was. But it was bothering her. 

When they were close to the exit of the airport, Wynonna pulled the redhead to the side so they weren’t trampled by busy travelers, which was obviously something Nicole hadn’t expected. She held onto Haught’s arms and stared into those brown eyes of hers that she had gotten so accustomed to seeing over the past few days.

“Listen. I know that you didn’t want to be my fucking supervisor. I know that you didn’t want to be a part of any of that. But I want you to know, you have what it takes to be a field agent. So, fill in that report. Say what they want you to say. Don’t risk your job over me, okay? I’m not worth it. If you don’t write shit about me, someone else will. So think about how much I annoy you and write the damn thing, okay? No hard feelings.” 

Haught stared at her for a few seconds in silence before nodding. Satisfied, Wynonna winked at her and sped off, wanting the chance to be alone for a while before she met up with Dolls to get fired. Returning to her beloved motorcycle, she hopped on and just drove. And drove. And drove.

* * *

She was holding her report in her hands as she walked to Nedley’s office. She felt like the paper was burning in her hands. She did what Wynonna said. She exaggerated all the unprofessional things Earp did and emphasized the fact that she hadn’t solved the case. She felt like throwing up. She felt guilty. Ashamed. 

Seeing Nedley’s grinning face made it worse. Betraying a woman she sort of got to know for a man who doesn’t give a shit about either of them? He looked so cheerful to ruin a woman’s career. She despised him. 

“Agent Haught,” he greeted with a hearty chuckle. “I am so glad to see you. Please, sit.” 

She sat and tried to ignore the smoke in the room. The smoking man was still there, ignoring her just like last time. 

“I imagine your time with Agent Earp was… enlightening.” 

She couldn’t argue with that one. “Yes, Sir.” 

“So, do you have the report for me?” 

Nicole looked down at the report in her hands. She stared at it, thinking about Wynonna Earp. She couldn’t stop thinking about how the profiler wanted to go back to that town in three years. She knew Earp cared. She might have done things in a way she didn’t agree with, but at least she gave a shit about people. Nicole joined the FBI because she wanted to make the world a better place. For all she knew, Earp was the only other person trying to do that. 

As she glanced back up at the man, she ripped the report in half. She felt relief flood her entire body as his face filled with a look of horror. She didn't know what the fuck she was doing, but it made her feel good. 

“You know, Sir, I think I need more time with her before I finalize any report.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	7. one (lonely) night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna is told some big news and reacts. 
> 
> Wynonna and Nicole spend a night apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya, Spookies! I adore y'all. You bring me so much joy! I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, and of course, here's the updated playlist:
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=5VWu7dp2Q3u0DqjJdrxmgw>

“Oi oi oi, motherfuckers,” Wynonna greeted while flipping all the agents off as she headed to Dolls’ office. (In her mind, “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen was playing as she dramatically prepared for getting fired.) “Can’t say I’ll miss you assholes, but I know you will all miss me dearly.” She waved at them before she swaggered into her boss’ office and shut the door. 

Dolls, always impassive and stolid, glanced up at her and exhaled. “Earp. Sit.” 

She was expecting outrage. Or maybe even a cunning smile, ever so happy to finally get rid of her. She was expecting _something,_ not this strange silence. She hadn’t known the man long (the man he replaced was actually a shit-ton worse) and didn’t know what his deal was. She knew the intentions of a lot of the bureaucratic dickheads of the FBI, but she didn’t know his. She could only presume he was like the rest of them. 

“Look, we don’t have to turn this into a thing, Dolls. I’m out, I get it. Just let me get my things—” 

“You’re not out, Earp,” Dolls interrupted and sat back in his chair, like he was interested in her reaction. “You’re not fired.” 

Wynonna blinked, absolutely confused. “What?” 

“You’re. Not. Fired. The woman sent to watch you, she didn’t give them what they wanted. She refused to submit the report.” 

She didn’t know what to say. She never thought that Haught was going to back her up this far. Fuck, she told her _not_ to. She knew that it would just put a target on her back. 

“What’re they going to do to her?” 

“Well, they’re teaming her up with you, Earp. She practically suggested it and _I_ agreed to it. If you want to be taken seriously, you need someone with… let’s say… less of a bad reputation. With her working with you, you might actually get to keep that badge. More people might take you seriously.” 

Wynonna pursed her lips. He was saying all of this like it was a good thing. As if he was fine with her staying in the bureau. She didn’t understand that. She might have not known Dolls well, but she knew she couldn’t trust him. She couldn’t trust anyone. 

“And you want that?” 

He glowered at her. “You _do_ know that it wasn’t me that tried to get you fired, right? That’s Nedley and the men above him. Men like Clootie.” 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure if she could believe him. She knew that Nedley and the smoking shithead were always working against her, but Dolls not being involved somehow? That seemed just as suspicious. 

She crossed her arms, wanting him to know she wasn’t going to take any of his bullshit. “No, you didn’t try to get me fired, but instead, you just ordered Oregon suits to pick us up in the middle of our case.” 

“Right,” he replied a little angrily, “because if I _hadn’t,_ we know that the local law enforcement could have pulled worse shit than me forcing you to return to Quantico. That car that was blown up? I think we can both agree that could have just been the start.” 

Wynonna scoffed. “Are you going to pull the ‘I’m just protecting you’ card? Why the fuck do all men think that’s going to work? I can take care of myself, thanks.” 

He didn’t budge. “I know you can. I’m not questioning that, Earp. I just don’t like my agents getting threatened.” 

She shifted uncomfortably. “So what? What’s the upshot here, dude? What’s happening with the X-Files?” 

“You’re going to keep investigating them,” Dolls said with a nonchalant shrug. _“With_ Agent Haught. Don’t look at me like that. That’s non-negotiable. She could be good for you, Earp, whether you like it or not.” 

She didn’t know how Haught was going to be anything but a nuisance. Working with her on one case was fine. She wasn’t terrible, but she didn’t _get_ her. Not that she expected the redhead to get her. No one did. And she was perfectly fine with that. That was why she worked better alone. 

“I don’t think—” 

“Earp. Non-negotiable. Do I have to repeat myself?” 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “If I’m just going to be fired eventually, what’s the point?” 

He shook his head, controlling his frustration remarkably well. “Earp, once again, you do know that I’m not trying to get you fired, right?” 

She didn’t believe him. She didn’t trust anyone who was practically begging her to trust them. “Yeah, but you don’t want me to do my full job. I know you change my reports to the big bosses. You want to hide the truth. I want to find it.” 

Dolls blinked, unsurprised that she knew that. “I do what _I_ have to do, Earp. We all do. _You_ have to work with Haught. This isn’t a suggestion. If you want that badge, you’ll have to work with her.” 

“Whatever,” Wynonna replied with a shrug. “See you later, Dolls.” 

She sauntered out of the office and held her head high past all of the people she had just flipped off. When she flipped them all off, she wasn’t expecting to pass by them again still carrying her badge. It wasn’t like she was upset that she was still an agent, she was just utterly confused. 

Haught played by the rules. She was the kind of agent the FBI liked. Intelligent, pragmatic, and loyal. Wynonna knew a few agents in her time in the BAU who were geniuses, but didn’t follow all the rules. They didn’t last long, even if they were good at their job. But that was at a time that Wynonna tried to be like them. When she tried to play the part. 

She didn’t know why Haught would sabotage herself like this. She considered the possibility that the redhead was trying to build a case on her, trying to expose her for the sake of the FBI. But there was something about her that made Wynonna question that. It wasn’t like she trusted the woman, but she didn’t necessarily distrust her either. She didn’t know what she felt. 

When she got into the elevator, she tried to run through the possible scenarios in her head. She could quit right now and never have to work with Haught ever again. She could stay with the FBI and ignore Haught’s existence. Or she could go against all her instincts and work with the woman. She groaned. None of them seemed like good possibilities. 

Wynonna approached her office and almost turned right around when she found the redhead standing outside of her door. She was still in her pantsuit from before and was leaning on the wall, staring at her phone. Her red hair had fallen into her face and Wynonna just stood there and stared for a second. She used to get into minds for a living, but she couldn’t get into this one woman’s head. She didn’t know why, but Nicole Haught had been the toughest person for her profile completely. 

“Haught-wheels!” Wynonna shouted, causing the redhead to jump, which was her intention. “What are you doing here?” 

Nicole stood up straighter and pushed her hair behind her ears. She looked startled. “Oh, I—your boss didn’t tell you? I’ve been assigned to working X-Files cases with you.” 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. She physically pushed the academy teacher out of the way so that she could enter her office. She cringed at the idea of having to share it with the redhead. This place was practically her home. 

“He told me,” she replied vaguely and flopped onto a chair. “I just don’t understand why you’re doing this. Why you’re here.” 

Haught entered the office and sat down on the shitty chair that was only there as a place she could pile casefiles upon. “I couldn’t _lie,_ Earp.” 

She tilted her head and stared into those brown eyes. “I know that you can lie, Haught-wings. I’ve seen you lie. You’re not a pro, but you’re capable of it.” 

Haught licked her lips and crossed her arms. “I don’t know why you’re interrogating me. You’re here, aren’t you? You’re not fired. You should be—” 

“But we’re just delaying the inevitable, aren’t we?” She wasn’t going to act like she was grateful. She didn’t want the redhead to think she needed her help. She never needed anybody's help. She was a chronic lone wolf and liked that about herself. 

The redhead sighed. “I don’t know what to say. I’m here. Can we just move on?” 

Wynonna considered interrogating her further, but the woman didn’t seem to be budging. “Fine. We’re going to Utah tomorrow. Flight’s at eight. And before you ask, no, we’re not investigating Warren Jeffs. I’ve been told that I can’t consider him an X-File, even if he is truly a monster.” 

She glared at her. “I wasn’t going to ask that. So, what are we investigating?” 

Wynonna tried to muster a smile. “It’s a surprise. I’ve been meaning to head out there for a while now. So, you in?” 

Haught took a deep breath. “Am I going to completely regret this?” 

“Definitely.”

* * *

Nicole didn’t know what reaction she had been hoping for, but she did want maybe a ‘thank you’ or something. She saved Earp’s job, after all, with the risk of losing her own. She didn’t need Wynonna to hug her and thank her profusely, but she hoped for maybe a few kind words. She wanted something to convince her that she made the right decision. 

But she didn’t get that. She didn’t get pure anger, but she didn’t get what she wanted, either. It made her feel crazy. Her decision was so impulsive and so unlike her. She didn’t know what the fuck she was doing. 

Knocking on her ex/best friend’s door just seemed inevitable. She didn’t have many people who knew her very well, but Shae was the one person who stayed around long enough to get to know her. Hell, she thought Shae might know her better than anyone. 

“Damn, Nicole,” Shae greeted when she opened the door, looking her up and down with concern. “What the hell happened to you?” 

“Honestly?” Nicole ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know.” 

The gorgeous doctor frowned. “Come inside and tell me everything. Do we need wine? I feel like we need wine.” 

Nicole smiled, feeling a rush of warmth as she entered the apartment she knew almost better than her own. “You know I want a beer, Shae.” 

Shae grinned at her. “I know. Just messing with you. _I_ need the wine. I have leftover cake from a horrible blind date I had yesterday. I’m going to grab two forks.” 

Knowing the apartment like the back of her hand, Nicole sat down on Shae’s couch, finally feeling like she could breathe again. “Who did you go on a date with?” 

“A peds doctor,” Shae answered and returned with a glass of wine, a bottle of beer, and a take-out box with cake in it. “She was hot as hell, but I was not into it. She kept talking about the kids she wanted to have, which scared the hell out of me. She already picked out the names of her future kids and everything. She wants to name one of her kids Elsa.” 

Nicole scrunched up her face. “Shit. That’s a lot.” 

Shae nodded vigorously. “It was. I hate dating. I wish you could just skip the initial three dates.” 

“You know, you could just drunkenly marry a girl after your second date again. I can attest that those were good times.” 

Shae laughed. “I blame it all on the exhaustion. We were tired med school students and the sex was out of this fucking world. Getting married happens. But no, I don’t think I wanna do that again, no offense.” 

“None taken,” Nicole snorted and took a swig of beer. “That feels like a decade ago.” 

She nodded. “It was just four years ago. But yeah, it feels like forever ago. So, tell me. What’s going on? You had that meeting with the Nedley guy a few days ago, right?” 

“Yeah,” Nicole answered and took a bite of cake. “So, he ordered that I basically watch this solo agent who works on X-Files.” 

“X-Files?” Shae asked with an inquisitive look. “That sounds fishy as fuck.” 

“They are. X-Files are basically the bureau’s cases that have to do with the unexplainable. Like paranormal and extraterrestrial cases.” 

Shae gaped at her. “What? The FBI has cases like that? And they wanted _you_ of all people to work on it? They do know you went to med school, right? That you believe in science?” 

“Yep,” Nicole said and shook her head. “I think that’s why they wanted me there. It was basically my job to debunk the X-Files and the person investigating them. Wynonna Earp.” 

“Okay…” Shae muttered. “So, what happened? Did you investigate this case with Wynonna Earp?” 

She nodded. “Went to Oregon to investigate the death of a teen and found a pattern of teens going missing for decades. Earp seriously believed in this shit, Shae. Like, she thought it was aliens the entire time until we found the truth. Well, semi-truth. We were told that the town was killing off its teens as some sort of sacrifice to some sort of ancient demon or ghosts or something like that.” 

Shae’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s super intense. But you don’t believe it, right? That has to be some excuse.” 

Nicole looked down at her beer. “I don’t believe it. But the townspeople, I think they did. I think they were really thinking they were sacrificing the teens for some sort of being. But, to be fair, we were dragged away from the case before we could investigate any further.” 

“Okay, but did you debunk the X-Files and the agent or what?” 

She shook her head. “I was going to. Earp even told me to. But I… I couldn’t. I wrote the damn thing. But when I went to turn it in, instead, I demanded that I needed to work with her more to make a final report. I don’t know why I did it, though. I could have lost my job and I knew that. Now I’ve been assigned to work with her.” 

Shae shifted on the couch and started to make a face that Nicole knew well. She was in deep thought. “I know you like following the rules and all, Nicole, but you were able to go into the field like you always wanted. It’s not surprising that you wanted to keep working on cases in the field. Unless… does it have to do with the woman?” 

Nicole’s eyes widened. “No way. I don’t like her, Shae. She… she is completely infuriating, okay? She’s so unprofessional. First of all, she wears, like, grunge clothes. On the job. And second, she talks to me like I’m stupid. And she’s even worse with law enforcement. She’s careless and reckless and—” 

“Damn, Nicole. She’s hot, isn’t she?” 

She glared at her. “Are you kidding? Shae, it has nothing to do with—” 

“She’s a fox! I know you, Haught! You’re blushing like crazy! What does she look like? Is she gay?” 

Nicole rapidly shook her head. “Even if she was attractive, it doesn’t matter. I don’t _like_ her. At all. She’s a UFO chaser, Shae. She throws science out the window.” 

Shae grinned at her. “Uh-huh. Baby, you’re not convincing me.” 

“She basically represents everything I don’t like!” Nicole argued passionately. _“And,_ she didn’t give a damn that I risked my entire job for her. She doesn’t like me either. It’s totally obvious. She doesn’t want to work with me or talk to me or do anything with me. She’s not a people person.” 

“To be fair,” Shae said and shoved a piece of cake into her mouth. “You’re not a people person either. You barely like anyone.” 

“I like you,” Nicole mumbled with frustration. 

“Aw, I like you, too. But Nicole, listen. You don’t give people a chance. Maybe if you give her a chance, you’ll like her. Even if you don’t know why, you obviously chose to risk your job for some reason. You deserve to give this situation a shot. Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy working on X-Files with the woman. You never know.” 

She facepalmed and tried her hardest to internalize her words. “Oh, I _know_ I won’t like it. God, I just feel like I’m going crazy. Am I going crazy?” 

Shae chuckled and rubbed her back. “You’re not going crazy, Nicole. You’re taking a chance. It could be a really good thing.” 

Nicole took a deep breath, feeling slightly reassured. “I hope so. Thanks, Shae. You’re the only person who can walk me off the ledge.” 

Shae rolled her eyes. “Somebody’s got to.”

* * *

Her apartment might have been cold and empty, but she was glad to have a second of being alone. After leaving the office, she went to find Jeremy to tell him that she hadn’t been fired, but it ended up being a much larger ordeal. The analyst tried to hug her and almost started to cry on her. She didn’t know why he liked her. He was a teddy bear and she was a cactus. 

Wynonna placed tape (shaping it like it was an ‘x’) on her window and turned her lamp so that it was shining directly on the window. She felt like it was a stupid signal, but it was what he had directed her to do. 

She sat down for a few minutes, hoping to relax, but she just felt more on edge. Instead of waiting in numbing silence, she called her sister and started eating ice cream from the freezer. The cold wasn’t going to stop her from eating sugary goodness. 

_“Wynonna! Hey! You called me!”_

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately. So… I’m not fired.” 

_“What?”_ Waverly screamed into the phone. _“That’s amazing! What happened? Rosita, she wasn’t fired! I know! That’s great!”_

She groaned, unsurprised that Waverly passed the message onto her ‘not-putting-labels-on-it’ girlfriend. “You know that woman I’m working—” 

_“Nicole! What did she do! Ooh! Are you friends now?”_

Wynonna facepalmed. “No, we’re not friends now, but she asked for more time to work with me. So I guess we’re partners now, or whatever.” 

_“Partners?”_ Waverly screeched, forcing Wynonna to hold the phone away from her ear again. _“That’s huge! Sounds like to me she saved your butt.”_

“My _ass_ didn’t need saving.” 

_“Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that, ‘Nonna. I think this is fantastic news! Especially since there’s going to be somebody out there who’s got your back. You know I don’t like you doing all that work by yourself. It’s so dangerous. It’s totally bananas that they let you do that for so long anyway.”_

Wynonna sighed, used to hearing this argument from her sister all the time. Waverly might have been the younger sister, but she definitely had a protective streak. Especially since there was no one else who cared enough to want to protect her (not that Wynonna needed any protection). Wynonna was just glad her sister hadn’t followed her footsteps and chose a field that wasn’t dangerous. She didn’t know how she would be able to deal if her sister was in any danger. 

“I don’t even like her, babygirl. This probably won’t last long anyway. She doesn’t belong working on X-Files.” 

_“Oh, puh-lease. I have good feelings about this one. I think she’s going to last. You know me. I’ve got a spidey-sense when it comes to this kind of stuff.”_

“Waves, you know you’re not psychic, right?” 

She heard her sister gasp. _“Rude! You’re the one who believes in psychics and you’re telling_ me _that I’m not one? Sounds pretty hypocritical to me.”_

A grin formed its way onto Wynonna’s face. “Okay, babygirl. You got me. How’s school? How’s Rosita?” 

_“Both are fantastic,”_ Waverly answered cheerfully. _“I do have one mean professor, though. Rosita… she’s looking at me right now. I wish you could meet her in person, Wynonna. You guys would totally get along. She’s as badass as you.”_

Wynonna snorted, extremely glad that Waverly had someone treating her right. “I don’t believe that. No one can be as badass as me. Have you talked about being girlfriends, yet?” 

_“Not yet,”_ Waverly hushed into the phone. _“I’m going to talk to her about it soon, though. I don’t want to scare her away.”_

“You won’t,” Wynonna reassured her simply. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like you two are solid, dude. I wouldn’t be wor—” 

She stopped when she heard the sharp four knocks on her door. She knew exactly who it was. She hated to cut the phone call so short, but she promised her sister she’d call her back at another time. She felt bad enough that she never visited. The least she could do was talk to her every few days. But this was important. 

The profiler opened the door, immediately rolling her eyes when she saw him leaning on her door frame like this was some sick date or some shit. He was strange to say the least. Never really seemed to fit in with this century. Despite being high up in the FBI, he dressed sort of like a character from _Sons of Anarchy._ Then again, she knew a lot of agents who had the cowboy mentality. 

“You signaled?” He asked with a tight grin and strange accent (he always spoke so clearly, without contractions). 

She stepped aside so he could come into her apartment. “No shit. Turns out I wasn’t fired.” 

He nodded and moved into the entryway, never daring to enter further into the apartment. “I heard. People are pissed, Earp. I have never seen so many bureaucrats that furious before.” 

“Well,” she said and crossed her arms bitterly. “I still have the job. No thanks to you.” 

He shook his head solemnly. “You know as well as I do that if I were to speak up as to your behalf, I would be out of there in less than a minute. You _know_ that I cannot aid you in that way.” 

She did know that. She didn’t want to complain, necessarily, but she was tired of being leveraged. She was tired of always trying to be kicked out of the FBI. And damn, for once, she wanted someone to see things the way she did. She knew he was only trying to help in the way he could, but sometimes she felt like it wasn’t enough. 

“Yeah, well. It fucking sucks, Holliday. You can go back to work without a target on your back. I never know when my last day is going to be.” 

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I am risking my employment and life coming here, you do know that. This is not easy for me.” 

She knew that, too. “I know. What have you heard, though? Any targets on Haught’s back?” 

“They are shocked,” Doc told her with a shrug. “No one expected Haught to have any guts. They chose the agent who would follow The Man to get ahead. On paper, they made the right choice. But obviously, they fucked up.” 

None of that was really new information. “Just because she backed me up this time doesn’t mean she’ll back me up next time.” 

He sighed and shook his head again. “Can you not… I do not know… be kind to her? Bring out some sympathy in her?” 

“Even if I could, which I doubt I’d be able to,” she told him honestly, “I don’t think I’d want to. I’m going to be fired or killed eventually. She shouldn’t put herself in the same position. It would be stupid.” 

“Have you told her that?” 

“I tried to. I think the case wigged her out. She might be a skeptic, but she knew something wasn’t right. Maybe she’s going through a midlife crisis or something.” 

Doc nodded. “If anyone looked into X-Files, they would know that something was not right. Look, just be careful. I do not think she is technically a spy, but if she is, you do not want her to know the things you know, right?” 

She nodded in agreement. “You’re making me even more paranoid.” 

“Paranoid means safe, Earp. Constant vigilance. It is what keeps us alive. I will keep you updated if I find out anything more about Haught.” 

She knew he couldn’t do much, but she was grateful. When he could, he tried to warn her about any kinds of threats. Hell, she didn’t know if she would have made it this long without him. She didn’t really know what his game was; she didn’t know if he was a true believer or if he was trying to screw with other agents high in the food chain, but either way, she didn’t complain. She might have not trusted him, but he was better than nothing.

* * *

Nicole jerked awake. She didn’t know what exactly happened in her dream, but she could remember Lara James’ lifeless body and a different figure. A lurking, shadowy figure that she must have made up in her mind. She shivered and sat up. 

“You okay? Did you fall asleep?” 

Shae was still watching the episode of Warehouse 13 that Nicole had fallen asleep during. She didn’t want to tell her that she dreamed about the Aôroi even when she didn’t believe in their existence. Shae was a brilliant doctor, she didn’t want her best friend to think that she was becoming a believer. 

“I’m fine,” Nicole answered with a tight shrug. “I should probably get going, though. I have another flight tomorrow, too.” 

“That’s rough,” Shae replied and stood up with her. “If you need me at all, even when you’re gone, you can call me, okay? Complain all you want about the Earp woman.” 

Nicole smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, Shae. You are my lifesaver. Seriously.” 

“Are you kidding?” Shae asked with a lopsided grin that used to make Nicole’s stomach do flips. “You took care of me when my parents were assholes when I came out. We take care of each other. That’s the deal, right?”

“Right,” Nicole agreed with a sigh and said her goodbyes. 

She always hated leaving Shae to return to her apartment. Nicole knew that deep down, she and Shae got married all those years ago because the two of them were so lonely. She just felt lucky that she was still so close with her, even if they were ex-wives. 

Nicole listened to “Claws in Your Back” by Julien Baker as she drove home and felt the sudden urge to cry. Julien Baker was one of her favorite artists. She didn’t know many lesbian singers who sang about religion. 

She touched her neck, missing the cross she used to wear around her neck. She missed the way the symbol rested on her chest, close to her heart. It used to comfort her when she was young. She missed the feeling of never being alone.

* * *

Wynonna was hit with pulsing music. She immediately recognized the song that frequently played in the establishment. She heard “Huggin and Kissin” by Big Black Delta so often she started to dream about it. She surveyed the scene, letting the music melt into her skin and throb in her bones. She smirked when she saw a couple of older teens huddled into the corner, all praying to not get caught. She knew those kids. She was one of those kids a long time ago. 

One of the barstools practically had her name on it. She didn’t have a claim to it, but it was the barstool closest to the exit where sometimes cold air drafted in when the door opened. Nobody wanted it, so it was hers. 

“Bushmills?” the familiar bartender offered with a casual smile as she pushed up her sleeves, revealing her numerous tattoos. 

Wynonna smiled back at her. “You know, you might know me better than anyone else.” 

The bartender snorted and poured her drink. “Darling, no one else drinks Irish whiskey here. You’re hard to forget.” 

Wynonna turned around and watched as people were dancing and grinding or doing shots while laughing into each other's ears. None of it was really her scene. It _could_ be, if she really tried, but she wasn’t here to dance and get wasted. If she was at a bar more of her style, it would be more covered with wood paneling with a pool table and darts. She was here for a different reason. 

People watching. Getting inside peoples’ heads that she couldn’t relate to. And sometimes (fuck it, _most_ times), she ended up hooking up with someone (or someones). It beat the silence of her own place. 

“I don’t quite belong, do I?” 

The bartender shrugged, ignoring all the other customers trying to grab her attention. “Doesn’t really matter if you belong. You’re here, right?” She passed her the drink. 

“Guess so.” Wynonna took a sip and tried to not enjoy it. 

The bartender moved on, and so did Wynonna. She moved onto a target and tried to get into their head until she was tired of them. One by one, she bounced from person to person, trying to understand them. Until she felt someone looking at her. 

His eyebrow was raised when she glanced at him. Dark curly hair, dark eyes. She wondered what the features would look like in better light. She guessed he would be beautiful. Bright. She was glad she could only see him in the dark. 

She finished her drink and let him come to her. Wynonna flashed him one of her perfected smiles. She was always good at being somebody and nobody all at once. 

* * *

Nicole felt on edge. She barely got any sleep and was not looking forward to this flight. As much as she knew she couldn’t avoid seeing her (they were partners now after all), she wished she could slow down time. She didn’t know what to say to the woman. She knew that Earp didn’t want her around and didn’t know how to fix it. She felt like an idiot knowing that she had put herself into this position without considering all the consequences. That was almost the worst part. Knowing _she_ caused this. 

She walked to the gate, glad that Earp had sent her the gate and flight info this time instead of meeting up at the entrance. It gave her more time to psych herself up, not that she was doing a good job at that.

Earp had her headphones on and had her nose in a book. Nicole was surprised (shocked, really) to notice that she was reading Emma Goldman’s writing about anarchism. Nicole hadn’t read any Emma Goldman since her class on feminism, but she remembered liking some of it. 

The brunette looked up at her and smirked. “Don’t tell the brass. It’ll give them just another reason to fire me. It’s a good thing no one saw my Marx and Fourier shrine in my apartment while I was in college. The FBI would have never let me join.” 

Nicole snored, knowing that was probably true. “Let’s be honest. You really can barely let anyone know you’re a liberal in there.” 

Wynonna nodded in agreement. “Fucking hate the government.” 

“You work for the government.” 

“Just for the access. I can’t do what I do without a badge, unfortunately. Though, I’m sure I’ll have to one day.” 

Nicole inhaled, accepting the little jab. She didn’t get rid of the report, she just delayed it. She was sure that Earp thought she was planning on getting her fired later. She couldn’t really blame her. It _was_ probably what she was going to have to do. 

To change the subject, Nicole pointed to the woman’s shirt, recognizing the design right away. 

Earp grimaced. “What? Look, I get it, it’s not professional or whatever. But this album, man, it’s everything. What, have you never listened to Julien Baker before? That’s honestly so fucking sad.” 

Nicole’s chest tightened. The design on her t-shirt was the “Turn Out the Lights” album cover. She thought maybe the woman was wearing it without knowing what it meant, but Wynonna knew her. Nicole never met anyone who knew who Julien Baker was before. 

“No, actually—” 

“Oh shit. I think we’re boarding. Also, I meant to ask,” Wynonna said with a devilish grin as she stood up. “What do you know about shapeshifters?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! :D


	8. greasy food (with a side of jealousy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna vaguely explains the case.
> 
> A car ride and a fight. 
> 
> A cutie pie. 
> 
> Two steps forward and one step back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi lovely spookies! 
> 
> Here's the updated playlist, as always!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=FEO4lFiDTLWoep0m96zUAw>
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

“Shapeshifters?” Haught repeated and tilted her head slightly (Wynonna thought she looked like a confused puppy). “You mean like… werewolves?” 

“I’m thinking more like skinwalkers, which can shapeshift on command,” Wynonna told her as they started to board the plane. “We’re going to Skinwalker Ranch, actually. Ever heard of it?” 

“Uh, no,” she told her, already seeming to be annoyed. “Is it a place where there are a lot of alleged skinwalkers?” 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Good guess, Sherlock. It’s actually sort of a hotspot for all sorts of strange activity. But yeah, it’s known for the skinwalkers.” 

Haught gave her this look, as if she was trying to tell her to stop talking. People were looking at them strangely, but Wynonna didn’t care. She was used to these looks her whole life. If Haught hadn’t signaled her to remain silent until they got to their seats, Wynonna would have kept talking about skinwalkers as they waited for people to store their carry-ons away. 

“Listen,” Wynonna said when they finally found their seats. “This time, the cops should be on our side. So, that’s a plus. And we’ll probably get a lot more townie participation. This area has probably profited from Skinwalker Ranch and its iconic history. They’ll be happy to talk.” 

Haught narrowed her eyes at her. “If the town has profited from the idea of skinwalkers, how do you know if anything they say is the truth?” 

“Because,” Wynonna said with a sigh, “like most legends, there’s always a partial truth somewhere in there. Historically, it’s Native American legend, but most people attribute it to Navajo lore. There are several different interpretations, and obviously other cultures have their own takes. But, in simple terms, skinwalkers—or shapeshifters—are able to turn into animals. Though, some say they’re witches who can possess animals. Either way, what they’re associated with most of the time are cattle mutilations.” 

Haught blinked, definitely unenthused. “Cattle mutilations?” 

Wynonna, hating to have to explain herself, nodded. “Not just run-of-the-mill animal slayings. I’m talking about animals that are killed in strange ways. A lot of the time, the bodies are completely drained of their blood or sometimes even their organs. Sometimes the brain is just missing. There have even been a few accounts of wounds that seem to be cauterized.” 

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That’s terrible and very sad. But why are we investigating the deaths of animals?” 

“Because,” Wynonna said and fastened her seat belt. “Two humans have been attacked in similar ways. Two people have been injured and swear that it wasn’t just some coyote or bear or anything like that.” 

The redhead looked very unconvinced. “But if it’s a skinwalker, isn’t it just ‘shapeshifting’ into another animal? Why would the wounds be so weird? Or are they partially human still? Like the Beast from _Beauty and the Beast.”_

Wynonna knew that she was just being patronizing and tried to turn it against her. “I personally hope it’s more like Hulk.” 

She shook her head. “Be serious. What am I really walking into, Earp?” 

Wynonna didn’t know what to say. If she was going to be honest, she knew that the woman would think she was crazy. But if she lied, she knew that her new partner would be pissed when she found out the truth. She started with an easier topic.

“Look, skinwalkers can be anything. I’m thinking old ancient Irish werewolves or even the Chinese legend of the huli jing, a fascinating legend about women that turned into foxes. Could they turn into animals we have never seen before? Why not? Skinwalkers have always been tied to strange mutilations.” 

Haught stared at her like she was completely lost. “Okay, what are you not telling me, Earp? It’s not just these attacks, is it?” 

Wynonna clenched her jaw, knowing that no matter what she said, the redhead wouldn’t believe a word she said. Telling her just felt pointless. Besides, she was just giving her more shit she could add in the report. 

“Earp?” 

She groaned and gave in. 

“The Skinwalker Ranch, it’s not just famous for its skinwalker folklore, alright? It’s also known for the UFO sightings and crop circles. But that’s not what we’re there to investigate, unless it comes up in the investigation. We’re here to investigate the attacks, that’s all.” 

Nicole stared at her and shook her head. “That’s complete bullshit, isn’t it?” 

Wynonna shrugged, a little caught off-guard that the ex-academy teacher was starting to have such moxie. “A little bit. I’m not going to ignore seeing any UFOs if I see them, okay?” 

Haught pursed her lips. “What’s your deal with aliens? Did you see one or something?” 

Wynonna looked away and started gathering some of the casefiles she brought with her in her go-bag. She didn’t want to talk about this. Not with anyone, but especially not with Haught. Somehow, the redhead hadn’t called her crazy yet. The fact that she didn’t send in the report showed that Haught must have seen something good or sane inside of her. She didn’t want to change her mind. And she definitely didn’t want her to think she was completely crazy. 

_“Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ made me a believer,” Wynonna lied, avoiding those brown eyes. “What can I say? I’m a Steven Spielberg fan.” 

She put on her headphones, ending the conversation so that she didn’t have to keep talking or thinking about it. When she was younger and told the story, people ended up taunting her by making her feel like she was insane. She learned early how to shut everything out and push everyone away.

Wynonna listened to “Blood Makes Noise” by Suzanne Vega and reviewed the case file, successfully shutting her mind off of the things she didn’t want to think about. The deputy that had contacted her sent her a copy of the files, but they weren’t very detailed, which wasn’t surprising for small law enforcement in the middle of nowhere. She tried to imagine all of it, tried to put herself in the photographs, and tried to live it.

* * *

Nicole wished that Earp would have warned her about the two and a half long drive from the airport in Salt Lake City, Utah, to “Skinwalker Ranch.” She only found out when she noticed the directions on Earp’s cracked phone. The brunette had been fairly quiet ever since Nicole had asked her about her history with aliens, which she hadn’t meant to be an invasive question. For a woman who openly chased aliens for a living, she thought it would be an easy question for her to answer. If she had known how weird she was going to be about it, she wouldn’t have asked. 

Wynonna Earp was bad enough when she was ranting and raving about something otherworldly, but it was worse when she was silent. Not wanting this entire experience to be unbearable, she tried to crack the ice by telling the profiler about a bit of her own past, as like a peace offering. 

“For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be a surgeon,” she said as Earp started to turn the music (“All in My Head” by YONAKA) up, as if she was trying to tell her that she didn’t give a fuck. “But then I—what the hell, Earp?” 

Wynonna shrugged. “I don’t need your history, Haught-chicken. In fact, I think it’s better that we don’t know each other at all, really.” 

Nicole gaped at her. She thought that after saving her job and all, that the woman would at least be a little nicer or more friendly. She wasn’t expecting the opposite to happen. She just wanted to be able to work with her, be able to come to a conclusion about who Wynonna Earp was and what kind of agent she was really like. She wasn’t here to be a punching bag. 

“Fine,” she stated and raised her hands up in the air in surrender. “Should we at least talk about the case? I know there have been attacks, but other than that—” 

“The casefiles are slim,” Earp interrupted with a sigh and rolled down the windows. “You know what I know, alright?” 

Nicole shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She did _not_ like how things were going. She was Earp’s partner for goodness sake. She didn’t want to be treated like she was some dumb assistant. If she knew things were going to be like this, she might not have even ripped up that report. She wanted to give Earp a shot, like Shae suggested, but every second that passed made her regret helping the woman out. 

“Did I do something to offend you?” 

Earp snorted and shook her head. “No.” 

She wasn’t convinced. “No? Then why are you acting like I’m just some problem that you want to ignore?” 

“The fuck are you talking about?” the profiler asked, glancing at her with frustration. “You suddenly have balls or something?” 

Nicole cringed, hating that stupid term. “What did I do, Earp? Tell me. Maybe I’ll try to fix it to make myself more bearable—” 

“Shut up,” Wynonna commanded loudly and pulled over, just before they got onto the interstate. She turned to look at her, fury in her eyes. She thought she would be scared, being the target of Earp’s anger and all that, but she wasn’t. Her heart raced, but she wasn’t scared. Not really. 

“I did not want you here,” she said firmly, without mincing any of her words. “I did _not_ want you here. It has nothing to do with you, exactly, as a person, Haught. I just don’t want a fucking partner. I work better alone. I want to work alone. I don’t want to tell you about my past or for you to tell me about yours because, fuck, Haught. I don’t want to be your friend. I don’t want you to think that I’m just going to suddenly be this person that I’m not. You’re here for some fucking reason I don’t understand and I don’t want to pretend like I’m glad you’re here.” 

Nicole froze. She knew that the brunette was going to try to chew her apart, but she really went for the jugular. She wasn’t actually that mad about it, though. Because, to be fair, she felt the same way about the brunette. She couldn’t really blame her for feeling that way, especially since Earp did tell her to send in the report and she didn’t. 

“Well,” Nicole said and rubbed the palms of her hands together, looking away from the profiler. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t know why I’m here either. And I’m not glad to be here, too. So, I’m suffering, too, if that makes you feel any better.” 

She heard Earp take a deep breath and exhaled as she started to drive again, as if she released all the animosity out of her body. “You know what? It kinda does make me feel better.” 

Nicole couldn’t help but smile a little. They agreed on something. Even if it was about not wanting to spend any time together. She sat back and was able to breathe a little easier. The silence was suddenly bearable. 

They remained quiet until the next song started to play and Nicole recognized it. “Fences” by Destroy Boys was a borderline punk song she actually liked. 

“What, is it punk rock day?” 

She watched as the sides of Earp’s lips curled upwards. “Female rock, punk, and alt day. This playlist has Stevie Nicks, of course, Blondie, Moaning Lisa, Bully, Destroy Boys, Thunderpussy, Paramore, The Cranberries, The Regrettes, Heart, YONAKA, Marmozets, Big Thief, and so much other good shit. If you don’t like it, you’re just going to have to deal.” 

Nicole didn’t really mind any of it. “I’m not going to stop you. I’m just surprised you listen to music that isn’t 90s radio hits.” 

Wynonna hit her own chest. “You wound me, Haught. Seriously. 90s hits are what I grew up with. You gotta love it. But I have more of an eclectic taste, I assure you.” 

“You sure about that?” 

She shook her head. “You’re on thin fucking ice, dude.” 

_Dude._ Nicole balked. No one had ever really called her that before. Shae was her best friend, but “dude” rarely came out of her mouth. And before Shae… Nicole just wasn’t very close with anyone enough for that to happen. Not that she and Earp were close at all. It was so natural that it was weird. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Nicole muttered under her breath playfully. “What else is new?”

* * *

She yelled at her. Intensely yelled at her. It happened before, but this time, she was really a dick for no reason. She had been on edge ever since Haught had asked her about her past, and everything else just boiled up. Mostly out of confusion for what the hell was happening. But she yelled at her. It wasn’t the coolest move, she knew, but the redhead barely flinched. In fact, the redhead seemed relieved, like she was feeling the same way. 

It was strange. Too strange. And things only got stranger when they talked about music and listened to the music, chatting about the lyrics of the songs or the song artist. She hadn’t figured that the woman would know that much about music, but she actually had a lot of insight that was rare for Wynonna to find. It made her seem less like a priss, if that was even possible. 

But mostly, they just sat and listened to the music. It wasn’t that awkward silence that normally peeled Wynonna apart and made her feel distraught. It actually made her a little calmer, which inevitably, kind of scared her. 

_Constant vigilance._ That was what Doc always told her. She almost always had her guard up, but with Haught, she could let it down once in a while without even realizing. It wasn’t good. She knew she couldn’t trust the woman. Even if her gut was screaming that she was just a clueless brainiac without some mission to destroy her career. 

She actually felt a little sad when she pulled up to the diner where they were supposed to meet up with the deputy who asked for their help. She was actually enjoying the car ride, which was bizarre. 

“I feel like we can’t just get out of the car now. We have to finish the song.” 

Haught smiled slightly and shook her head. “You really want to sit in the car and wait for “Heart of Glass” to be over?” 

“It’s a _classic,_ Red. What are you, a music snob?” 

She narrowed her eyes at her. “You do know she literally says the line: ‘mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind,’ right?” 

Wynonna couldn’t deny that it was a strange line. “I didn’t say she was a lyrical genius, snobby.” 

Haught rolled her eyes. “Don’t we have a meeting or something? Not that you’ll tell me what we’re doing here.” 

Wynonna turned the car off, realizing the music moment was over. “I figured that when we’d get into town we’d be starving. I told Deputy Kolker to meet us here. He’s going to give us the rundown, I hope. But we’re going to actually have to go to Skinwalker Ranch and talk to the victims ourselves.” 

Haught winced and Wynonna couldn’t blame her. Talking to the family of deceased members was terrible, but talking to someone who was attacked and asking them to relive it was the worst. Wynonna hated it. She wouldn’t do it if she didn’t have to, but it was almost always necessary. 

They got out of the car and entered the little diner. Wynonna smiled almost immediately. It reminded her of the diners around Roswell that were alien themed. This diner had enough alien memorabilia to fill a museum. She knew the people in this town were going to be a lot easier to talk to. In fact, she’d probably have a harder time getting them to shut up than to talk. 

“Agent Earp?” 

She swiveled around and found the young deputy, tragically beautiful with the bushy dark brown hair and dimples, sitting in a booth with a milkshake. Wynonna knew who he was before she even sat down. Sweet kid, home town hero, family-oriented, joined the police because his dad wanted him to. Maybe a little out of his depth at his job. 

“Hi, I’m Deputy Kolker. Owen Kolker.” He shook both of their hands as they joined him at the booth and introduced themselves. “Thank you for coming out here. I never thought the FBI would ever get involved. When I asked for help, I thought it was a long shot.” He smiled at her and chuckled a little, reminding her of her little sister. 

“We actually investigate these kinds of cases all the time,” Wynonna told him to reassure him a little, hoping he would be a little less nervous. “So, tell us about what’s going on here.” 

“This town, from what I’m told, was just an average one before the Sherman Ranch became known as Skinwalker Ranch. I mean, ‘round here, people were seeing UFOs before the ranch became famous, but once it became famous, our town became known for having a lot of unnatural activity. I was just a kid when the stories were first in the media around ‘96, so I don’t really know what it was like before the publicity. But all I know is, Skinwalker Ranch is Utah’s Amityville Horror House.” 

Wynonna raised her eyebrows at the reference of the house that was known for torturing its homeowners. “What do you mean? It’s dangerous?” 

He shrugged. “Not exactly. It’s just a strange place, Ma’am. It tends to freak people out.” 

Before Wynonna could say anything, Haught asked, “What did you mean by unnatural activity?” 

Owen looked at Nicole and chuckled. “Lots of things, Ma’am. Lots of dead cattle, lots of UFO sightings, and lots of lost time.” 

Haught frowned. “Lost time?” 

“Residents there swear they lose time when they’re there sometimes. There sure are other examples, but I think the current home-owners should tell you their own experiences.” 

Wynonna nodded. “So, why’d you call the FBI? Sounds like you’ve been dealing with these strange encounters for a long time.” 

He ran his fingers anxiously through his hair. “Truth is, two people were attacked, Agent Earp, and we don’t know who did it or how. They can’t even seem to recall. And I’m just afraid that these attacks will escalate.” 

She knew what he meant. She knew he was afraid of murders. Anyone would be. 

“And do you think these attacks were perpetrated by… what?” 

He shrugged. “The town has its own theories. I’d’ve thought it would be someone from the town, except that both victims swear they didn’t see anyone. _And,_ the teeth marks on the bodies don’t appear to be human. In fact, they seem to match the bite marks on the dead cattle.” 

“Has anyone forensically tested it?” Haught asked, knowing about that shit way more than Wynonna did. 

Owen frowned and blushed, almost breaking Wynonna’s heart on the spot. She was so used to government assholes (or just plain assholes) that she forgot genuinely kind people existed. Other than her little sister, of course. And maybe even Chetri.

“No, Ma’am. We don’t really have the capabilities of doing so. It’s just me, another deputy, and the sheriff ‘round here. We don’t have a lot of crime in these parts. Just the occasional unexplainable event.” 

He was honest. Another trait that was rare to find these days. Normally, she gave a lot of young cops shit just to screw with them, but she liked him. Wanted to protect him, really. She knew what this world could do to its innocents. 

“No worries, kid. We can call the Utah field office and get it tested. I’m just wondering, what’s your theory about what’s happening?” 

He shrugged, still blushing slightly. “I don’t really know. I grew up with the stories about skinwalkers…” 

“Have you had any experience with any?” 

He shook his head. “Not me. But plenty of people have. My father, anytime he got drunk, would always talk about seeing one. He would always talk about shooting cans with his friends when he was younger in a field and seeing a man run across the field and turn into a coyote. Though, depending on how much he had to drink, this man also turned into a hare. But really, ask anyone.” 

She tilted her head, intrigued. “So, you’re not a believer, then?” 

“I wouldn’t say that,” Owen chuckled and shrugged. “I’m neither, really. I just wanna see it first for myself, you know? I called the FBI just in case, well, it’s a human doing all of this. I think I read that a lot of killers start with animals, right?” 

Wynonna nodded, knowing that was usually the one thing people had as a take away from watching _Criminal Minds._ “Yep. Not always, but it’s part of the Macdonald triad. Other than arson and bed-wetting. But, like I said, not always the case. You interested in behavioral science?” 

“No, Ma’am,” he answered with a kind smile. “I don’t have the brains for that. Besides, I like it here. I don’t want to have to deal with these kinda cases on the regular.” 

“Understandable,” she told him, constantly refreshed by his answers.

She was going to say something else when the waitress came over and asked for their orders. Wynonna’s stomach rumbled in response.

* * *

Nicole was seriously glad that the deputy wasn’t a nut. She was a little bit afraid that he would be and that he and Earp would just feed off of each other’s obsessions, but he was neutral. Not a complete skeptic, but reasonable in Nicole’s mind. He was really nervous, but gentle, almost. Nicole would have thought that Wynonna would have been annoyed with him and his personality, but she was incredibly kind to him. More kind than she had been to Nicole ever. She didn’t know what it was about him that made Wynonna like him, but whatever it was, it made Wynonna ask him constant questions. He looked absolutely thrilled, as if no one had ever been interested in his life before. 

They spent about twenty minutes eating and Nicole was already tired of greasy diner food, though she knew they couldn’t be very picky in towns like these. Besides, no one in the town was angry about their presence. It was a nice change. 

“I can take you two to Skinwalker Ranch myself,” Owen offered as they got up from the booth. “The ranch is about 500 acres and both attacks on the victims happened on the outskirts. I can introduce you two to the owners. They’re very worried about these incidents. Surprisingly, out of everyone in this town, it’s the owners that are least likely to talk about any skinwalkers.” 

“Why is that?” Nicole asked him, hoping that she’d get an answer like the owners thought the whole thing was bogus. 

“The people who owned the ranch before this family, they did anything to talk to the media. I mean, they talked about everything from radiation spikes to poltergeist activity. They tried to get investigators in there, which only proved that they agreed that something strange takes place there. The owners now have been here for only four years and they just want to be left alone.” 

Nicole didn’t know if she believed that. “So, are they not going to react well when we show up?” 

“I warned them,” the deputy told them with a shrug. “They want this to be solved, too. They just don’t want the media circus. But don’t worry, these folks are fine people.” 

Nicole looked for Wynonna’s reaction and the brunette, like normal, barely had one. She didn’t seem surprised. Then again, she wondered if the profiler was holding things back from her. If she knew things that she wasn’t telling her. 

“You two just follow me to the ranch,” he said and waved before heading to his own squad car. 

When the two of them got into the car, Nicole asked her what she really thought about the situation and the deputy, wondering if she was playing the young deputy in some way. 

“I think it’s good that the kid hasn’t made up his mind on what’s going on,” Earp told her, looking a little annoyed that she was asked to share her thoughts, as she drove. “And I’m sure you’re glad that he’s not a complete believer. He’s worried about people getting hurt and called the FBI. He might be in over his head a little, but he’ll be one of the few cops that’ll be easy to work with, I promise you.” 

Nicole raised her eyebrows, still surprised that she seemed to like him so much. “I don’t think I’ve heard you say this many positive things about a person before.” 

The brunette glared at her fiercely. “So?” 

She shrugged defensively, not wanting to piss her off. “So, I’m just making an observation. I’ve only seen you act this nice when you’re pretending—” 

“Are you going to write that I’m ‘too nice’ in your report now?” Earp interrupted, anger quite apparent in her voice. “What’s your problem?” 

Nicole opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know _why_ it bothered her so much. She just knew that it made her feel like she knew Wynonna Earp even less than she did before and she didn’t like that. 

“Nothing,” she said instead, lowering her voice to try to tell her that she wasn’t trying to be hostile. “I didn’t mean it in any way.” 

She watched as Wynonna remained silent, her eyes staring at the road with a concerning intensity. She wondered what she was thinking about. She wanted to know if Earp was thinking about Nicole or the case or something else. 

Nicole couldn’t believe that she kept wanting to get into her head. She knew that despite the agent’s strange theories, the woman was smart. She had to be incredibly intelligent to be a profiler. Nicole was smart, but she knew that she was also raised to be smart. Her parents wouldn’t really allow for anything else. So, she studied. And gradually, she knew more and more things. Earp, on the other hand, seemed to have that more creative genius that Nicole never had, but always wanted. If anything, Nicole was a little jealous of her. 

“I take offense at almost everything,” Earp blurted out of nowhere, while they were in the middle of Patti Smith’s cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” She took a deep breath and sighed before she continued. “I’m an asshole. It’s just who I am. I think everyone’s against me. That kid? He doesn’t have a bad bone in his body. It’s rare, you know? The only other person I know like that is my sister.” 

Nicole listened and nodded, trying to analyze what she was saying, but also what she _wasn’t_ saying. Nicole knew the feeling of always being judged. She grew up with it. She could understand why Earp would feel such compassion for someone who she thought wouldn’t judge her. 

She wanted to tell Wynonna that she wasn’t against her. She _wanted_ to. She could hear the words in her head, she could feel her throat ready to say the words, but she knew she couldn’t say it. She didn’t want to lie to her. Nicole knew that she might have to give a report one day that doesn’t put her in the greatest light. And at this point, she didn’t have much reason not to. 

Instead, she said, “Your sister must be a really special person.” 

Earp nodded. “She is.” 

Nicole was going to ask her about her sister when she saw this strange gated entrance with a ‘keep out’ sign. She shuddered slightly. This area was fairly desolate. She was expecting something out of a movie, or something. Beautiful and serene. But this was just lots of land and a few run down buildings. 

The music died. Nicole almost thought Wynonna turned the engine off, but the car was still moving. 

“What the fuck?” Wynonna picked up her phone and cursed again. “It’s dead. It was just at seventy percent!” 

Nicole was surprised by the brunette’s outrage. The iPhone was old and cracked. She was about to tell the profiler to get a new phone when she checked her phone and realized it was dead too. 

“The hell? Mine is dead too.” 

Wynonna’s frown immediately shifted into a wide grin. “You know what, Haught-ranch? I think we’re in the right place.” 

Nicole rolled her eyes and tried to laugh it off, but something was weird. As they pulled up to the largest house on the land behind Deputy Kolker, she felt the unnerving sensation that she was being watched. 

“You feel it, don’t you?” Earp asked her, her blue eyes suddenly locking with her own. 

Not wanting to admit it, she tried to act clueless. “What do you mean?” 

Wynonna tilted her head like she was trying to read her. “Like we just walked into an episode of _The Twilight Zone.”_

Nicole gulped. “I prefer _The Outer Limits.”_

She laughed, easing the tension a little. “Of course you do. Come on, Haught-spot. We’ve got skinwalkers to find.” 

“Or a normal human or animal.” 

Earp shrugged. “Only you could come up with something that boring. Let’s hit it. And besides, if we do meet up with a skinwalker, I promise I’ll let it eat me first.” 

Nicole winced, _not_ reassured in the slightest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a note, Skinwalker Ranch is a real place, but I'm adding my own twists on it!


	9. an old man, a piece of shit, and (singing along to) Fiona Apple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole meet the owners of the ranch. 
> 
> Nicole learns a little bit more about Wynonna. 
> 
> They talk to two people with mysterious wounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Spookies! Here we GO
> 
> Here's the playlist, as usual!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=FwaNvSFfSoiU7c--FPDU9g>

Being on Skinwalker Ranch land for Wynonna felt like going into a separate universe where every color was just one shade off. She felt a little unsettled, but there was a huge part of her that was just excited about the strange feeling. She could tell that her new partner, on the other hand, looked completely shaken, though she was stubbornly trying to appear to look fine. Haught kept rubbing her chapped lips together and even though her hands were in the pockets of her pantsuit, she kept tapping and moving her fingers anxiously. 

For a woman who didn’t believe in skinwalkers, she was definitely scared of something. She tried to reassure the redhead that she would die first for her if she had to, but that didn’t seem to comfort her. Wynonna wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t find the right words. She might not have wanted the redhead to be around, but she didn’t want her to get hurt. 

“Kolker,” Wynonna greeted warmly as they walked to the front porch of a house almost similar to her own that she grew up in. “Our phones died. Does that happen often around here?” 

He smiled and nodded. “Ma’am, if your phone didn’t die, I’d be more surprised. Yeah, it happens to just about everyone. It’ll come back on soon.” 

Wynonna was very intrigued by this whole situation. She was very curious to find out what kind of people owned this land. She knew about the previous couples and what they were like from the publicity they got, but she knew nothing about these new owners. 

An older man opened the door and Wynonna was a little caught off guard by how ordinary he looked. Large and muscular, bearded, and wore lots of plaid. Wynonna thought he looked like the dads in the Hallmark Christmas movies. 

Owen shook his hand immediately. “Mr. Tarbell, these are the FBI agents I told you about. Agent Earp and Agent Haught.” 

The old man nodded and tipped his baseball cap. “Pleasure to meet you. Guess they were right about ladies working in the government these days. You can’t always believe what the media says these days.” 

Wynonna cringed a little, but hated to admit that she was used to comments like these. “Sir, do you mind if we talk to you a little about what happened to the two people that were attacked on your ranch?” 

Mr. Tarbell nodded, staring them down like he was still trying to figure out how the two agents were both women. “I won’t stop you. Let’s go on inside.” 

The house smelled like cigarette smoke and cat litter. Wynonna didn’t like the smell, but it was better than a lot of houses she went into (but then again, half the houses she went into had dead bodies). The floors were creaky, much like the house she grew up in, with wood paneling everywhere. The house had a lot of taxidermy, which freaked her out a little, but wasn’t strange for someone living in a ranch like this one. There were also a lot of pictures of family, though it didn’t look like a particularly happy one. What stood out the most to Wynonna was the lack of UFO memorabilia or anything like it. If he did move here for the UFOs and skinwalkers, she thought she would see some souvenirs or maybe even some equipment. But there was nothing. 

“If my wife was still around, she’d offer some coffee and cookies,” Mr. Tarbell grunted as they all sat down in the living area. “But unfortunately, I don’t have any of that crap.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Wynonna tried to reassure him with a small smile. This time, she _was_ pretending. She needed access to his home and land. She couldn’t completely piss him off. “So, how long have you been here exactly?” She knew the answer, but she thought it was a good question to start with to get to know what this man was like. 

“Hmm,” he grunted and rubbed his beard with his calloused hand. “Maybe about four or so years ago? My son’s wife passed and we wanted a quiet place to raise his daughter.” 

Wynonna was making mental notes of who was at the ranch and who had died when Haught asked, “Did you know about the conspiracies about this place?” (Wynonna was consistently surprised to hear her new partner’s voice when she least expected it.)

Mr. Tarbell scoffed. “Sweetheart, I was no alien believer. No, Ma’am. Conspiracy theories are for the weak-minded folks. I do not trust those who do not trust our government, our flag. Anyone who doesn’t trust our government is a commie in my book.” 

Wynonna forced herself not to roll her eyes. “Uh-huh. So, nothing weird or strange has happened here since you moved onto the land?” 

He narrowed his eyes at her slightly. “I am no conspiracy theorist, Ma’am, so when I tell you about the damn weird things that go on around here, it’s no conspiracy, it’s just fact. I never in my whole life woulda thought this place could be as strange as they said. But it’s weird alright. I haven’t seen any skinwalkers, but I’ve heard some strange sounds. And anything electric seems to lose its battery on a whim.” 

She turned to look at Haught, who raised her eyebrows in surprise. It made Wynonna feel slightly better. She always liked it when a non-believer admitted that something unnatural was indeed happening. She felt a little validated.

Haught gaped at him slightly. “But you haven’t told anyone about your experiences. We figured there weren’t any.” 

“Never assume, little lady,” he said and whistled. “Nope, we didn’t tell anyone because we don’t want people to think we’re kooks! And if we decide to sell the place, we want it to be bought! If people knew we saw strange things in the sky at all hours of the night—” 

“Dad!” A voice echoed as a different giant entered the house. He was about half the man’s age but seemed to have twice the anger. He had his daughter, around age ten and very skittish, behind him as he entered the house. He whispered something into his daughter’s ear and she ran off, not even acknowledging the people in her house. Wynonna found the whole thing odd. “What are you telling to these people?” 

The old man furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. “Don’t pretend, boy. You know just as well as I do that weird things happen ‘round here.” 

The son turned to the group of agents, his dark eyes catching Wynonna’s as she tried to start profiling him. “My father is getting old. He might not even tell the difference between what’s real and what happened on TV.” 

He was mean. Unafraid to put all the blame onto the man who raised him. Instead of sitting down and joining them, he stood in the doorway, his arms crossed and furious. He seemed somewhat aggressive, but he was almost gentle with his daughter. Wynonna figured that he either distrusted the government/police or was just an asshole to everyone but his daughter. Though, she knew she only saw one moment. She knew parents who could put on a good show in front of others. Her own parents were like that. 

Haught, on the other hand, looked a little relieved. “So, you don’t think anything strange has gone on at this ranch?” 

The son shook his head. “Nope. Other than the two people getting attacked, nothing has happened here.” 

Wynonna knew that wasn’t true. She knew there were cattle mutilations happening. “Can you two tell us about the attacks and how you two got involved?” 

He turned to look at Wynonna again, his dark eyes almost hard to look at. It was an intense stare. And even when she looked away, she could feel his eyes on her. 

“The ranch is huge,” Mr. Tarbell explained and leaned back in his chair, ignoring his son. “We’re fine with people comin’ onto the property if they don’t go past our keep out signs. Both people attacked were on the outskirts, but it’s not as unusual as you’d think about them being out there.” 

Wynonna wasn’t so sure. “Right, but they were alone. Isn’t that odd?” 

“No,” the younger man answered with annoyance. “People come for the ‘UFO watches’ all the time. I’ve seen plenty of people around here that are looking for UFOs or skinwalkers or whatever.” 

“Bryce—” 

“Dad,” Bryce interrupted, giving him a stern look, like he was the authority figure in the house. He turned back to look at Wynonna and Nicole with an extremely forced smile. “Sorry, I think he wants this to be something it’s not. I was the one who found both of the people, and they looked like a wolf or coyote attacked them.” 

Wynonna raised her eyebrows. “You found both of them? At what time of the night?” 

Bryce shrugged like he didn’t really care. “I’m not sure. It was dark, but I don’t think it was the middle of the night. Probably around eight or nine at night. I like to walk out there when the night is nice.” 

Wynonna thought that was suspicious as fuck. Taking walks at night wasn’t necessarily odd, but finding both of the victims? Wynonna didn’t think it could possibly be a coincidence. And if it was, he was one unlucky son of a bitch. 

Mr. Tarbell just shook his head. “What my son _didn’t_ tell you is all the cattle that’s been dying. Ever since we got here the cattle were dying. In strange ways too. One time, the eyes of a cow were missing and all its blood was drained. The vet wasn’t able to explain how it happened. And this other time, we had a cow who died without any obvious marks on it, but apparently, its brain and heart were missing. You all wait here. I’ve got pictures.” He got up and went into a different room. 

Her heart jumped. Nothing made her happier than evidence. More often than not, she had to just listen to personal accounts. She had seen her fair share of cattle mutilation pictures, but she was glad to see that a man who wasn’t a believer had taken pictures. She hoped it gave the theory more credibility. 

“You’ll have to excuse my father,” Bryce whispered with an eye roll while his father was out of the room. “My father… he’s old, you know?” 

Before Wynonna could retort, Haught fired back, “He might be older, but age doesn’t suddenly make someone unreliable.” 

She gaped slightly at the redhead. She hadn’t noticed that Haught was also annoyed by him, but it lifted Wynonna’s spirits. She wondered if Haught thought there might be some credence to the old man’s stories. 

Bryce opened his mouth, but his father re-entered the room with a small stack of pictures. “Here you go.” He passed them to Wynonna and she leaned over so that Haught could look at them, too. They were a little gruesome. Some of the cows were attacked viciously while some looked untouched, except for the fact that their insides were missing. 

“Thank you so much, Mr. Tarbell. Can we keep these while we continue our investigation?” 

Mr. Tarbell nodded. “Of course. Owen, there, already has a lot of them. He said that some of the teeth marks from one of the cattle that the vets have stored matched with Roger’s wounds. Isn’t that right?” 

Owen, who stayed mostly silent through the interview, nodded. “That’s right, Sir. We’re going to try to send that off to a real FBI lab to make sure, though.” 

“That’s good,” Mr. Tarbell replied with a smile. “Sounds like you three are on top of things. Are you two lovely agents going to talk to the two people who were attacked, now?” 

“We are,” Wynonna told him and sighed a little dramatically, hoping that she could get him to offer what she really wanted. “And then we’re going to have to try to find a motel in the area close to the ranch. We want to try to keep our eyes out for any strange things that happen.” 

Mr. Tarbell rubbed his beard. “Don’t worry about finding a place, Ma’am. If you need a place to stay, you can stay—” 

“Dad,” Bryce interrupted again, this time more harshly. “I hardly think there’s enough room—” 

“We only have one guest room,” Mr. Tarbell continued as if his son hadn’t said anything. “But you two ladies can either share the bed, or one of you can take the couch. I insist.” 

Wynonna tried to not grin. She had been waiting for an invitation like this since they got there. She could tell that Haught, who looked almost pale, wasn’t that too keen about staying on Skinwalker Ranch, but there was no way that Wynonna was going to miss this opportunity. 

She put the charm on double. “Oh my gosh, that would be so helpful. You are a lifesaver.” 

Mr. Tarbell smiled while Bryce just shook his head. “I’ll fix up the room while you two go talk to the victims.” 

“Thank you so much, Sir,” Wynonna said and stood up so that they could get a move on. “We really appreciate it.” 

“No worries,” he said and smiled even wider. “We haven’t had company in so long.” 

Wynonna grinned. She wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

* * *

Nicole wanted to take the car and drive away as far away as possible. Not only was Skinwalker Ranch just giving her a stomach ache, she didn’t want to spend another minute in a house where two men were fighting it out for dominance. Besides, Bryce Tarbell was staring at Earp like she was meat and Nicole couldn’t stand it. 

She would have said something the second they were out of the house if it wasn’t for Owen, who didn’t seem weirded out in the slightest. 

“Do you want me to lead you to the hospital? It’s not far from here.” He looked at Wynonna with a bit of puppy dog eyes like he’d do anything to hang out with her more. 

Nicole thought Wynonna was going to say yes, but the brunette shook her head. “I think we can get there ourselves. Maybe you can call Utah’s FBI field office and use our names so that they can come get the evidence that needs to be tested. We can meet up at the diner for dinner. I was thinking that we could talk to a few townies and listen to their stories and theories.” 

He looked a little bummed, but he recovered quickly. “Of course. You have my number. Just text me when you want to meet up.” 

She smiled at him. “Thanks for all your help, kid.” 

He nodded and waved. “No problem.” 

They got into their separate vehicles and Nicole sighed, glad to be rid of men she couldn’t trust. She startled herself when she realized she was relieved to be alone with Earp. She shook her head, a little terrified of that notion. 

“I cannot believe you want to stay in that house overnight.” 

A tight smile grew from Wynonna’s lips as she started to drive, making Nicole feel more at ease. “Strange dynamics in that house, isn’t there?” 

She rolled her eyes. “You say strange, I say downright homicidal. Why can’t we just stay in a motel? I’m sure there’s one around somewhere.” 

“I wanted that invitation,” Earp explained with a shrug. “We need to get a feel for that house and who those people are. And besides, we need to get a feel for the land.” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Please tell me we’re not staying in that creepy home just so that you can keep your eyes out for UFOs.” 

Wynonna chuckled and shook her head. “I’ll take the couch, Haught. Don’t worry about that. Unless you happen to want to shack up and—” 

“Shut up, asshole,” Nicole interrupted and shook her head playfully while trying to not imagine what it would be like to “shack up” with Wynonna Earp. “I’m just saying, if I get weirded out—” 

“Just be honest with me,” Wynonna stated bluntly. “I won’t make you stay in a place you aren’t comfortable in. I’m an asshole like you said, but I’m not that bad. Though I must admit, with that verbal punch you threw at Bryce, I bet it will be totally awkward.” 

Nicole winced, hating to even think about that. Bryce completely pissed her off. Not only was he constantly belittling his own father and staring at Earp creepily, she didn’t trust him. Her gut told her that he was just lying. 

“He needed someone to call him out on his bullshit.” 

Wynonna grinned at her. “So, are you on team believer dad?” 

She rolled her eyes _again._ Just because she didn’t like Bryce did not mean she thought skinwalkers existed. She knew that there had to be a scientific explanation for the cattle deaths. 

“I’m on team anyone but Bryce.” 

“You know, it’s always a nice reminder that you’ve got a temper, Haught-tub. It makes me wonder if we’re more similar than you think.” 

Nicole snorted. “Definitely not. Just because I—” 

The music started up again, making both of them jump. Nicole checked her phone and it had also turned back on, back to being fully charged. She was glad that her phone was back on, but she hated that the second they left the ranch, their phones revived. She didn’t want to think it had anything to do with the ranch.

“Thank _god,”_ Earp muttered, reaching for her phone with delight. 

Nicole cracked a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy.” 

Earp shrugged and said very seriously, “Music’s the best company to have. It’s only there to comfort, you know? It’s all you ever really need.” 

Nicole didn’t know what to say about that. With Earp’s confidence, she would have thought that the woman would always have company. Friends, dates, whatever. She thought she was living a different life than Nicole’s. But now… she didn’t know. She felt like every time the profiler talked, she thought about her in a different way.

“I’m the same way,” she finally said in almost a whisper, “but more with books. I like getting lost in something else.” 

The brunette nodded and started to tap the steering wheel. “I gotcha.” Her face changed after a beat of silence. “You know what song I want to get lost in before we head into down and depressing hospital land?” 

Nicole raised her eyebrows. “I’m afraid to ask at this point, Earp.” 

Her lips formed into a mischievous grin as she changed the song at a stoplight. The song started to play and Nicole sort of recognized it. It was an interesting sound. But then Wynonna started to sing: “I’ve been a bad, bad girl… I’ve been careless with a delicate man.” Nicole facepalmed. She wouldn’t have expected Earp to like “Criminal” by Fiona Apple, but as she sang it, it fit her voice so perfectly. (Haught hated how red her face had become.)

“Don’t pout, Haught-pop. This song is the best to dance to!” 

She tried her hardest to remain emotionless as Wynonna started to move one arm and dance as she drove. Nicole knew it would have been dorky if it was anyone else doing it, but since it was Earp, it was just… so Wynonna. 

She shook her head as the brunette begged her to sing. “This song has such a terrible message!” 

“Dude, men sing about cheating on women all the time! How different is this song from the Damien Rice song ‘9 Crimes?’Do you know the guts Fiona Apple has to sing a song like this? Shit, dude. It’s like an anthem.” 

Nicole rolled her eyes, not really getting how this was empowering in the slightest. “Why? Do you relate?” 

The profiler grinned at her even wider. “Agent Haught, are you asking your partner if she cheats on men? Don’t you think that violates so many rules? Do you need to go to one of those HR meetings where—” 

“Shut up,” Nicole interrupted playfully. “I was just _joking.”_

Nicole almost jumped. Earp was laughing so hard she snorted. It caught her a little off guard. It was like she was seeing the real Wynonna Earp. 

She wiped the tears from her eyes and finished chuckling. “You’re one nosy motherfucker, Nicole Haught. And here I thought we agreed to not talk about anything personal. Maybe you’re the secret rulebreaker.” 

Nicole shook her head, denying it. “I was just joking, like I said. I don’t even want to know.” 

“Sure…” Wynonna said in a sarcastic tone. “I totally believe you.” 

“Asshole.” 

“Aw, are we making pet names for each other, now?” She asked in the same tone as when she talked to the front desk woman at the hospital from the last case. “If so, can I come up with one for you?” 

She shook her head again. “We’re at the hospital, Earp. No time, unfortunately.” 

“Excuses, excuses,” Earp tsked and parked in the fairly empty parking lot. She took a deep breath and immediately went into serious mode. Nicole was almost startled by how different she looked. “Listen, you did a good job with Lara James’ parents back in Oregon, but talking to people who have been attacked and traumatized, it’s a whole different ballpark. It’s like the Tropicana Field ballpark and Fenway.” 

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her, not really knowing what she was exactly trying to say. “Wow, you really went for the whole baseball metaphor there.” 

She groaned. “I’m _trying_ to tell you something here, Red. This is not going to be easy for them or us. We have to be patient and understand if they don’t want to talk. They have the right to stay silent if they want to.” 

Nicole nodded, understanding what she was saying and that she was saying it with compassion. “I’ll follow your lead on this.” 

Earp raised her eyebrows for a second, but then quickly changed expressions like she wasn’t surprised. Nicole was always startled by how fast her emotions could change and how well she could always hide them. She wondered if that made the profiler a bit of a shapeshifter. 

She followed Wynonna into the hospital. Earp just showed everyone her badge, easily getting access to the patients that were recently attacked. She didn’t even have to say a word, really. It was like the doctors expected them. 

Nicole felt so out of place in the hospital. Years ago, she used to think that this was the kind of place she’d end up at. She was so sure for so long that she’d be a doctor. That the hospital was her home. But now that she was back in one, she realized how much she didn’t belong. She looked at Wynonna and realized that she looked just as uncomfortable. She took a deep breath, understanding that they just had to get through the next hour or two. (And maybe she felt better knowing that Earp was feeling the exact same way.)

Earp knocked on a door to the first victim’s room: Roger Paulson. Nicole knew that the young adult was attacked a week ago, but he still looked pale. Almost sick. She would have thought he had the flu if not for the fact he had deep cuts along his face and plenty of gauze wrapped around other parts of his body. Nicole didn’t want to reveal to him what she was thinking. The _pity_ and sadness she had. 

“Mr. Paulson,” Earp greeted with a tight smile. “I’m Agent Earp from the FBI and this is my col—my partner, Agent Haught. We have a few questions about your attack if you don’t mind us asking you a few questions.” 

Roger sat up in his bed and nodded a little, his hair falling into his face as his eyes darted toward his bedding. 

“Mr. Paulson—” 

“Roger,” he interrupted, his voice almost cracking. “Please, Agent Earp. Call me Roger.” 

She nodded gently. “Okay, Roger. Now before I ask anything, if you want to take a break or if you want to stop talking, just let me know, alright?” He nodded, still staring at the bedding. Nicole noticed Wynonna bite her lip as if she didn’t want to ask anything. She looked up and locked eyes with Nicole. Nicole could tell that Earp was hating this as much as she was. 

“Roger, in the report, they found you on the outskirts on the ranch near a dirt road. Can you tell me what you were doing there?” 

He gulped and took a deep breath. “I’m not really sure. Usually, I go to the ranch with friends, you know? I—I go with a lot of friends. We like to keep our eyes out for UFOs. And honestly, we’re usually cross-faded, you know? But this time I went alone and sober.” 

Nicole tried to go over every word in her mind to remember it. She could totally see a group of high older teenagers going to check out the UFOs, but she found it strange that he didn’t know why he went out alone. She was sure that Earp would find it also very suspicious. 

“About what time was this?” 

He shrugged. “Like midnight or something. I think I was just trying to blow off some steam. My mom was pissed that I failed a class in college which doesn’t even sound like a big deal right now.” 

Wynonna nodded and Nicole made the mental note that midnight was pretty late for not only Roger to be out, but for Bryce as well, who said that he found them when it wasn’t that late.

“So you’re out there and it’s late. Before you’re attacked, what did you notice?” 

He shuddered. “Nothing. I noticed nothing. That’s what bothers me the most. I don’t remember noticing anything. One minute I’m staring at the sky and the next I’m in a hospital bed missing my spleen and so much blood that I need multiple transfusions.” 

Nicole was caught a little bit off guard. A missing spleen? She almost shuddered at the thought of an animal ripping out the organ. She was glad it was only the spleen (he could easily live without it if he had to), but it was odd that out of all things that a wolf would have eaten… 

Wynonna frowned suddenly. “Wait, your abdomen…” 

Roger shook his head and looked up at her. “That’s the thing. I have nasty cuts, Agent, but it didn’t rip the spleen out of me. It’s just gone.” 

“That can’t be possible,” Nicole said without thinking. Both pairs of eyes turned towards her. “I mean, I don’t see how your spleen can just go missing.” 

“My doctors don’t know, either,” Roger replied with a shrug. “But look.” He pushed the blanket away and revealed his bare abdomen. There were a few deep scratches and even a clear bite, but nothing that appeared like something was ripped out of him. 

Nicole wanted to talk to his doctors as soon as possible. She knew that some people were born without spleens and that some even have them removed if they don’t function. She wondered if that happened when he was younger and he had no idea. 

“Roger…” Earp said slowly, as if she didn’t know how to word her question. “Are you absolutely sure that you didn’t see anything? Maybe you saw a person or even heard something that might be helpful. Like the rustling of the grass or—” 

“Maybe a howl?” Roger asked her a little sarcastically. He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Agents. I really don’t remember. I didn’t get a concussion, so I don’t think it’s that. But I don’t know. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.” 

Nicole nodded solemnly as Earp reassured him that it was okay, that she was just glad that he was on the road to recovery. She was so good with him. It was interesting for Nicole to see Earp interact with so many different types of people. For some reason, she thought that _this_ Wynonna was just as real as the one in the car, laughing and snorting at her joke. 

“Listen, Roger. I am going to give you my number. Call me if you remember anything, alright?” Wynonna put her card onto the bedside table and gave him a small smile that he barely returned. Nicole’s heart ached. 

She followed Earp out of the room and quickly asked her, “Can we find his doctors?” 

Wynonna nodded, completely unsurprised by the request, and made her way to a woman who was holding a chart at the end of the hall. “Excuse me, Doctor, do you know who Roger Paulson’s doctor is?” 

The woman with tight and beautiful dark curls looked up at Earp and raised an eyebrow. “I’m his doctor. Who are you?” 

Earp took out her badge again. “Agent Earp with the FBI. We just interviewed him about his attack.” 

The doctor’s glare softened. “Oh. I see. He lost a lot of blood in the attack. Almost as much as the other victim, Ia Marowsky. It’s strange, though. He has plenty of cuts, but none of his cuts would make me think they would have caused the extreme blood loss.” 

Nicole furrowed her eyebrows. “And what about his missing spleen?” 

The doctor sighed. “That’s definitely strange, too. Look, there’s no trauma in the area. We did an X-ray in case he had broken ribs. We weren’t expecting for him to have a missing spleen. I know Mr. Paulson seems to think that this happened in the attack, but I just don’t see how it’s possible.” 

Nicole nodded, glad that someone was thinking the same way that she was. “So, do you think he was born without it?” 

The doctor nodded. “He also might have gotten it removed. All I know is that a spleen just doesn’t go missing. Spleens can rupture, but they still have to be removed. They don’t just disintegrate.” 

“And how has he done emotionally since he has been here?” Earp asked casually. 

She shrugged. “He has good moments and bad. His parents are both working, but they visit at night. Sometimes his friends visit. He seems like a lonely guy a little bit. He might be a little depressed, but anyone would be in his situation.” 

Nicole agreed with that and Earp appeared to be on the same page as well. She thanked the doctor for her time and she shared a look with her partner. Nicole knew that Wynonna was thinking the same thing. Neither of them wanted to continue this, but they knew that they had to, that there were no other options.

* * *

Wynonna knew what it was like to be prodded with questions. And she could remember distinctly what it felt like to give honest answers that nobody wanted. It made her feel useless. Worthless. She never wanted anyone else to feel that way. 

Haught, though skeptical about the missing spleen, remained respectful and gentle. Wynonna knew plenty of agents who wouldn’t be. Agents who would purposefully make the victim feel bad if it meant hurrying up the investigation. Actually, when she thought about it, she knew more agents who couldn’t care less about the victims than those who did. An older agent one time told her that she’d become desensitized like all of the others. She swore to herself that she never would be like that. 

Ia was younger than Roger. She was seventeen and told them that she went to Skinwalker Ranch on a dare in the middle of the night, already scared and terrified out of her mind. Her mother was in the hospital room with her, holding her hand tight as she retold the story. Her father was in the corner of the room, trying to control his anger. Not anger directed at Ia, but at her attacker. They were good parents. Protective parents. The kind of parents Wynonna wished all kids have. The kind of parents she wished she had when she was younger. 

“I’m so sorry to keep making you relive this, Ia,” Wynonna apologized again, watching the tears spill from her eyes. “But can you talk about the attack? What happened before? What did you see or hear?” 

Ia, so frail in her bed after losing almost a fifth of her blood and going into hypovolemic shock, wiped her cheeks. “I had my phone out. Ready to call my friends and prove it to them that the dare was completed so they could pick me up. But my phone died. I was moving around to try to get my phone to turn back on when I saw it. I didn’t have time to react, really. I saw something dark and passed out. I don’t think I even screamed.” 

“Something dark?” Wynonna asked with a sudden surge of hope that they might get an answer. 

Ia nodded. “I don’t know what it was. I just know that it was big. And dark. And had big teeth. Like dog teeth. That’s all I can remember. I’m so sorry. I wish I could remember more.” 

For Ia’s sake, Wynonna was glad that she didn’t. “Don’t apologize, Ia. You did great. We appreciate all of your help.” 

They were heading toward the door when Ia called out her name. They turned around to find her sitting up in the bed. “If this is a skinwalker, how are you going to catch it?” 

Wynonna ached at the sound of defeat in the teenager’s voice. “Well, I’ve been hunting monsters my entire life, Ia. I’m going to do what I always do. Hunt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	10. the agent who cried (were)wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole talk to a vet and townies. 
> 
> One night. One bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! 
> 
> Here is the playlist, as always!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=yrK-EKHcQl2LKNFshXkDCA>

Nicole could see it in her eyes. The edge. The need to help the victims she just met. The minute Earp said “hunt,” she could tell that the woman was close to seeing red. There was a danger in her eyes. She didn’t have to ask to know that Wynonna was going to do whatever it took to stop further attacks. 

The second they were out of the hospital, Earp shivered and said, “Let’s head to the town vet. I have an inkling that whatever is attacking these people isn’t totally animal.” 

Nicole didn’t know if she agreed. She was hoping that Earp meant that she thought a normal human was behind these attacks, but she was worried that she had a different theory. When they got into the car, she asked the profiler to continue. 

As Earp drove and “Caroline” by Arlo Parks echoed in the car, she started to explain her theory. “I feel like there are almost humanistic qualities about the attacks, you know? In both instances, the attacker stopped before killing its prey that were on the brink of death. Would an animal, like a wolf, drain its victim and somehow stop feeding right before their vic died? And how did it in both circumstances hide its form from its victims? Humans recognize the importance of keeping their identities hidden, but animals don’t.” 

Nicole definitely wasn’t as sure as Earp was. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they didn’t see anything. Maybe they’re two young kids who are traumatized, Earp.” 

Wynonna shrugged. “Good enough point, Agent Skeptic. But I don’t think it’s just some wolf .” 

She narrowed her eyes at the brunette. “Okay, but the cuts? They look like they were made by something with teeth and claws similar to an animal with large canine teeth.” 

Earp nodded like agreed. “Yeah, well, it’s a good thing the hospital gave us pictures of the wounds. Maybe the vet would know. I’m at least hoping he could tell us about the cattle mutilations.” 

Nicole had to admit, going to see the vet was not a bad idea. She wanted to talk to someone who might actually know about these animals. “So, what do you think is happening? A human imitating an animal?” 

The brunette shrugged again. “I dunno, Haught-mail. It’s certainly _possible_ that someone could have made a mouth guard of some sort that is similar to a wolf’s teeth and jaws. It’s definitely possible that someone might even _think_ that they’re this animal. Could be clinical lycanthropy. It’s happened before. Or...” 

Nicole was actually thrilled that Earp seemed to have a theory that wasn’t totally alien or monster related. But Earp didn’t look so sure about her own statement, like she was holding something back. 

“What?” 

“I’m not feeling it,” Earp said with a sigh, shaking her head like she was disappointed with herself. “I don’t fucking know. I think that this is something completely different than that. It’s plausible that they just didn’t see their attacker, but I think that it’s something _more._ Something I haven’t seen before.” 

She frowned, feeling frustrated with the profiler again. “Like what? An actual werewolf or something like that?” 

“Don’t be stupid,” Earp said and turned to look at her like she was completely serious. “Werewolves only shift according to the moon. Other shifters, like skinwalkers, can usually shift on command. But then again, now that I’m thinking about it, in some cultures, people can shift into wolves on command. And they still might call themselves werewolves.” 

Nicole winced. “You’re kidding, right?” 

“Who the fuck knows?” Wynonna asked with a simple shrug. “Werewolf lore has been around forever. They’ve traced it back to at least Ancient Greece and Rome. Actually, there’s this hella gay story that this dude Petronius where this party host is telling a great wolf story where the wolf turns his clothes into stone after peeing on it. But story aside, some of them still might be shapeshifters.”

Nicole gaped at her. She knew that Earp knew a lot about behavioral science and psychology, obviously, but the profiler seemed to know random shit that Nicole swore no one else would know about. She didn’t know if it was admirable or just plain strange. 

“Did you take a class on Ancient Roman literature or is it some sort of hobby?” 

Wynonna snorted. “Holy shit, no. I am not that much of a dorkus. My sister studies all the ancient cultures and shit. I swear I only know half the things I know because of the things she learns and relays to me.” 

Nicole had to admit, she wished she had a sister who would do the same with her. The closest thing she had to family (she liked) was Shae. And by the sound of it, she thought she would actually like Earp’s sister. 

“So you think we’re dealing with a werewolf, but not a werewolf that shifts according to the moon, so not a werewolf.” 

The profiler sent her a glare. “I’m _saying_ that I think that it’s not going to be something we know or expect. I mean, what can suck out the blood and organs from people and animals?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes, hating that Earp was going there. “Let me guess, you’re thinking aliens.” 

“Oi!” Wynonna barked with a scowl. “You said it, not me. I didn’t say one word about them. But now that _you_ mentioned it…” 

Nicole shook her head disapprovingly. “Why the hell would aliens attack and steal blood and organs from cows and humans? What would be the point? I thought abductions were their thing, not brutal attacks.” 

She was startled to find the profiler’s face falter slightly. She recovered quickly, but Nicole noticed. Nicole was starting to notice a peculiar dichotomy of Wynonna believing in aliens but also starting to shut down at Nicole’s mention of them. 

“Yeah, well. We don’t really fully know their intentions, do we?” 

Nicole didn’t know how to reply to that. Instead, she let the silence consume their conversation. She knew that the profiler was squinting slightly, like she was deep in thought. She wondered what she was thinking. She stared out the window and listened to “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt, wishing she could read her partner’s mind.

* * *

The vet was friendly enough, but she seemed a little nervous. Like there was a secret she was keeping and she was afraid that they’d find out about it. Wynonna thought it was odd. The older woman seemed to have a no-nonsense personality and was definitely not the kind of person who would purposefully keep something from law enforcement. Wynonna didn’t know what tactic to use to try to open her up.

“I did see the bovines myself,” Dr. Lavigne remarked, answering Haught’s question about whether or not she had seen the cows in person or just in pictures. “Deputy Kolker also asked for my professional opinion about the wounds on the humans. Obviously, that’s not _really_ my department.” 

The woman was being very honest. She could have easily told them what her opinion was to massage her own ego, but she didn’t. Wynonna couldn’t really figure her out. 

“And what do you think happened to the cattle?” 

Dr. Lavigne sniffled and crossed her arms. She opened her mouth to reply, but then quickly closed it like she changed her mind. Wynonna knew she was torn. She could tell that she _wanted_ to say something, but she felt like she either couldn’t say it or shouldn’t. 

“Dr. Lavigne,” Wynonna said, reflecting the woman’s attitude and body language as to try to make the woman like her. “You can tell us anything. We won’t reveal to anyone what you tell us.” 

She nodded and looked down at her perfectly manicured red fingernails. “I just want to say, I do not want to start anything in this town. Especially not any media frenzy.” 

“Of course. Noted.” Wynonna inhaled, trying to not let anyone know that her heart was racing at the thought of this woman telling her something about skinwalkers or even something alien. She forced a controlled smile. 

“This town, it always wanted my opinion on the cattle mutilations that were publicized in the 90s. But the thing is, they didn’t want my professional opinion, they wanted me to spew conspiracies.” 

That didn’t surprise Wynonna, but it made her excitement die down. “So, what did you do?” 

The woman shrugged. “I remained as vague as I could be. But let me assure you, before four years ago, the cattle mutilations were done by animals. Wolves, specifically, and perhaps a bear or two. Maybe there was the occasional abnormal slaying, but nothing that appeared to be unexplainable. I actually thought some of the abnormal slayings were done by people trying to publicize the killing. But when the Tarbells moved in, those cattle mutilations were different.” 

Wynonna didn’t really understand what she was trying to say. “Different in what ways?” 

She rubbed the palms of her hands together. “Different in the ways that they were drained. Different in the ways that their organs were missing. Different in the shape of the teeth and claw marks.” 

Haught narrowed her eyes at her. “So, what’s your conclusion?” 

The vet sighed. “My conclusion, Agent? I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. But all I know is that these killings only started when that family moved onto the land.” 

Theories flooded Wynonna’s mind, but all she could ask was: “Do you think that the cattle wounds were made by something human?” 

“I don’t know,” the vet answered with the shake of her head. “I wish I knew. I wish I could help, but I don’t think I can.”

“You already helped us a lot,” Wynonna told her with a shrug, her mind already on the next thing. “We really appreciate you talking to us.” 

Wynonna practically ignored the rest of the conversation. She was sure that they said their goodbyes, but her mind was racing. She thought about the Tarbells and the unsettling vibe in their house and in their presence. She knew that there had to be something off about them. This new information confirmed that. 

She was thinking about who in the family could possibly shapeshift while walking to the car. She felt something touch her arm, startling her enough to stop thinking. 

“Earth to Earp?” Haught asked, looking a little frustrated. “Did you even hear a word I just said?” 

Wynonna put on a grin and lied through her teeth. “Of course I did, Haught-water.”

“You are so full of shit.”

“Maybe I am? So what?” Haught full-on glared at her, causing Earp to sigh. “Fine. Tell me what you said. Maybe I’ll listen.” 

Before they got into the car, Nicole shoved her. “I _said,_ asshole, that the Tarbell family might have just become suspects.” 

“Well… duh.” Wynonna unlocked the rental car and hopped in. When Haught joined her in the car, she asked her, “You hungry? I feel like we need to talk to some townies about the Tarbell fam.” 

“Do you really think they’ll just gossip about them?” 

Wynonna just blinked at her as she texted Owen about meeting them at the local diner again without even looking at her phone. “It’s a small town and the Tarbell fam is the closest there is to fresh outsiders. Of-fucking-course they’ll be willing to gossip.” 

Feeling pumped, she played the song “Has It Hit You?” by The Regrettes and felt the urge to speed like crazy all the way to the diner. She felt good about this case. Like she could actually meet a real skinwalker or something else. She almost started to shake.

“Earp! What the hell are you doing? Slow down!” 

She grinned at her. “I have a badge!” 

The redhead looked horrified. “So? That doesn’t give you a right to speed or—” 

“Relax, Haughty,” Wynonna replied and slowed down, not wanting to give the woman a heart attack. “I’d never let anything happen to you. The FBI would fire me for sure if I got you killed.” 

Haught threw a wrapper at her head. “Thanks for caring about my wellbeing, Earp.” 

She grinned at her for real this time. “It’s my pleasure, Haughtstuff.”

* * *

Earp was telling her the game plan for when they got to the diner. Not a lot of it was very surprising to her. She reminded her to appear to be curious, not interrogative, and to never shut down anyone’s theories. 

“But when we meet up with Kolker,” Wynonna explained as she parked the car in the diner’s parking lot, “don’t tell him that we consider the Tarbell family as persons of interest.” 

“But aren’t they really suspects?” Nicole asked, her eyebrows furrowed, surprised that the profiler wanted to keep something from the deputy she liked. 

Earp shrugged. “Technically, we don’t even really have any concrete evidence that would make them suspects. Hopefully soon, though, we will.” 

Nicole was surprised that Earp cared so much in this instance about technicalities. “Okay, fine, but why are we keeping it from local law enforcement?” 

“A couple of reasons,” Wynonna said and turned to look at her. “One, Kolker didn’t seem bothered by the family in the slightest, so he might get offended if we are turning our investigation toward them. Two, I don’t know if he can lie or is capable of lying to people he knows. And three, I don’t trust him.” 

Nicole frowned at that last statement. Earp _liked_ the kid. And Nicole thought Earp didn’t like anyone. If she liked him and didn’t trust him, she had no idea what that meant for herself. She didn’t want to think about the possibility that Earp would never trust her. 

Kolker was of course already inside, grinning at the sight of Earp. Nicole didn’t know if it was a crush or admiration or a bit of both, but she could see why _someone_ (definitely not her) would be charmed by the profiler. She didn’t look like an FBI agent. She wore messy eyeliner and had piercings all up and down her ears. She wore a frayed shirt, a leather jacket, and ripped jeans. She was brilliant and witty and charming when she wanted to be. Nicole felt her chest tighten. For someone who represented a lot of what Haught disliked, there was a part of her that wanted to be like her. At least, that was what she thought she was feeling. 

Nicole always felt like she was boring and inadequate. She never felt like she could keep somebody’s attention long enough for them to like her or even care about her existence. She wished she could draw the entire attention of a room like Earp could. She wished she could get people to care. 

“Agent Earp!” Kolker greeted and rushed to her side, completely out of uniform. His already untidy dark brown hair was even messier and he was wearing what looked like his nicest tight sweater. Nicole felt the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Deputy Kolker,” Earp replied, returning only a fraction of the smile he offered her. “Were you able to track down the FBI?” 

He nodded rapidly. “There’s an expert coming by tomorrow to look at the evidence. He said that teeth analysis is tricky when it comes to animals, that it’s not as simple as comparing human teeth marks.” 

“Thank you for calling them, kid. It’ll be so much easier once we find out if the cattle mutilations and the human mutilations are done by the same attacker.” 

Owen hummed in agreement. “How’d the talk go with Roger and Ia?” 

Nicole watched as Wynonna shifted her weight onto a different foot and sighed. “They don’t remember much or they didn’t see much. Not a lot of it really helps us.” 

He frowned. “Damn. I wish that they had remembered more since the last time I talked with them. You want to get a bite to—” 

“Owen!” A woman shouted as she approached them with an identical smile to Kolker’s. She immediately grabbed his arm and looked at them like she was meeting one of her son’s significant others. “Are these the two agents you called me about?” 

He blushed like crazy. _“Mom,_ what are you doing here?” 

She slapped his arm and ignored him. “I’m Leslie Kolker and I am so glad you two are here. My son has been stressing like crazy over this case. I told him, I said, ‘Owen, you better call people who are better equipped for this kind of violence’ and suggested he call the FBI.” 

Nicole could tell that Wynonna was trying very hard not to laugh. “Oh, well, thank you for that advice to your son. I’m Agent Earp. This is my partner Agent Haught.” 

“It’s so nice to meet y’all,” Leslie said and laughed. “The only visitors in this town we get are UFO searchers and the occasional journalist. How are you liking the town?” 

Owen glared at his mother. “Mom, they’re _busy._ You shouldn’t take up any of their—” 

“I’m so sorry if I’m distracting you!” Leslie gasped, horrified. Nicole didn’t know if she ever met someone so dramatic before. Except, maybe, Earp. 

“It’s fine,” Wynonna reassured the woman with a forced smile. “It’s a great town. You a lifelong resident?” 

The woman chuckled. “Born and raised.” 

“And had Skinwalker Ranch always been so… infamous? Did everyone in the town always know there was something weird about it?” 

Leslie tapped her chin. “Well, you see, ever since I was born there were weird things up in the sky. Flashing objects going almost at the speed of light, I swear. But the stories of the skinwalkers started when the ranch was nicknamed it in 1996 when the couple living on the ranch reported the cow deaths. I ain’t never seen one skinwalker, but I’ve seen plenty of flying saucers. And when I’ve been on the ranch, I’ve had the bizarre feelings everyone talks about.” 

Wynonna nodded and Nicole could tell she was in thinking mode. “And what do you think about the current owners? The Tarbell family?” 

Leslie’s smile fell slightly. “Well, I don’t know much about them, really, other than the fact that they didn’t want all the publicity. But… well…” she trailed off and shook her head. 

Nicole took the bait. “What is it?” 

“I’m just going to say this. Why move onto Skinwalker Ranch if you don’t want the attention! It’s called Skinwalker Ranch for pete’s sake!” 

Nicole actually thought the woman had a great point. For a family intent on convincing them that they weren’t believers, they chose land that was famous for its strange occurrences. If one wasn’t a believer, they wouldn’t want to deal with that at all. 

“Mom,” Owen groaned, “we have no proof that the family wants any attention at all. You got all of this from all the gossip about the family.” 

“What gossip?” Earp asked as if her ears perked up. 

Leslie grinned slightly while her son facepalmed. “It’s not a lot, mind you, but that family? It doesn’t like to interact with the community. And here, we’re a big family. And the little girl in the family? Alanah? Apparently, she doesn’t even talk in school.” 

Nicole didn’t know if this was information she should actually take seriously or just a small town’s fear of the “other.” She wondered what Earp was thinking. If she was putting any of the pieces together. 

“They keep to themselves,” Owen argued, seeing the positives in everyone. “But that isn’t necessarily bad. Besides, they’re raising a daughter while grieving. That must be hard to do.” 

In the corner of her eye, she could see Wynonna’s jaw clench while her hands curled up into fists. It was only for a second, but Nicole knew that something he said affected her. 

Leslie shrugged and rolled her eyes. “They _asked,_ Owen. Speaking of asking, Agents, did you two know my son is recently single? Now I know you two might be a little older but—” 

“Mom!” Owen interrupted again, his face almost completely red. “That’s c-completely inappropriate!” 

Leslie shrugged again as if she didn’t notice her son’s embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it, O. Someone has to say something. Girls, Owen makes a good lasagna and is incredibly kind. He’s a catch.” 

Nicole didn’t know how to reply but Wynonna just smiled. “I bet he is. Unfortunately, I’m not suited for relationships and Haught here is madly in love with me. But you’re right, I’m sure he is a catch. We’re going to talk to a few more customers if that’s alright with you.” 

Nicole glared at her partner, perturbed by the thought that she could ever be in love with someone like Wynonna Earp. She hoped that the redness on her cheeks would make her seem frustrated, not… something else. Even though she knew it was a joke, it still annoyed her. She didn’t want anyone to think that she had feelings for her. She didn’t even want to think about it herself. It made her stomach ache with what seemed like nausea. 

Leslie nodded. “Of course, of course. Go do your work. I’ll be right here if you have any more questions or want to talk about my son.” 

Nicole felt Earp grab her arm and they quickly made it to the bar where a few people were chatting about hockey and eating meatloaf. This time, she took out her notebook. She knew that Earp had a great memory, but she wanted to make sure everything that was said was written down. She hoped to hear at least one thing incriminating about the Tarbells.

* * *

Wynonna felt like these conversations were endless. She kept hoping for new information, but it seemed like no one really knew the Tarbell family, not that she could blame them. Most of the customers told them about all the unexplained phenomena they saw. Everyone they talked to had at least one UFO tale, but a few others had their own crop circle or skinwalker stories. One man said he went out hunting and shot a deer only to get closer and realize that the thing that was shot was human, but he swore that it must have shifted. Another person told them that they saw a person turn into a horse. None of their personal stories resembled anything like a wolf shifter or something like that, but they all had their own theories about what happened to the two people who stumbled onto Skinwalker Ranch.

They all had a lot to say about the Tarbells, too, but nothing specific or substantiated with evidence. One person thought they were in witness protection. Someone else guessed the daughter was ill. One customer even insinuated that they kidnapped the young girl. It was slowly becoming excruciatingly clear to Wynonna that no one really liked the family, except maybe Owen, who seemed to think everyone was good. 

When business died down a little, the waitress who was cleaning the bar asked, “Does the FBI normally investigate small little cases like this one? I hate to say it, but no one even died.” 

Wynonna was surprised that she was only asked this now. “These are the exact kind of cases that we investigate. _And_ we’re trying to prevent any human loss.” 

The woman looked uncertain, like she didn’t believe her. “When Owen said the FBI was coming, I didn’t believe him. Is there something else going on?” 

She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand what the woman was asking. “We’re here to make sure that these attacks aren’t being committed by a person. We don’t want them to escalate. Why? Is there something else you think we should be investigating?” 

The waitress pursed her lips and started to walk away. “Not really.” 

Wynonna turned to look at Haught, who had her eyebrows furrowed. She almost smiled at her look of utter confusion. “You ready to hit the hay, Haught-n-spicy?” 

Haught groaned. “You know the last thing I want is to be in that house. The more we talk to people, the more…” She trailed off, her eyes darting down so that she was looking at her feet. “It’s fine. Let’s go to the ranch.” 

Wynonna felt a twinge of guilt as the redhead charged for the front door. She could tell that Haught was uncomfortable with the plan, but Wynonna knew that it was imperative to stay there overnight if they wanted to get to know the family better or even catch them in the act of doing something. (Or even see a possible UFO.) 

“Listen,” she said when she hustled to catch up with Haught outside of the diner. “If you don’t want to stay, we can get you a hotel—” 

Haught flipped around and glared at her. “Do you think I’m weak or something?” 

Wynonna scoffed and crossed her arms. “I didn’t say that. I was just—” 

“We’re staying at the ranch!” Nicole declared and started angry walking again. “You’re right. It’s important that we stay there.” 

She didn’t know what was happening. She wasn’t trying to say that Haught was weak. In fact, she was also wary of staying in a house that seemed to be filled up with rage and the possibility of patricide. She just didn’t want to make someone else stay in the house who didn’t need to. She was fine with staying there alone. 

“I’m not _trying_ to be a fucking asshole!” Wynonna complained as the two of them got into the rental car. “I don’t want to be in that house either! I just didn’t want to make you do anything you didn’t want to—” 

Nicole glared at her. “I want to do exactly what you’re going to do.” 

“Fine,” Wynonna said with the shrug of her shoulders. “Then we’re _both_ going to share the bedroom. Alright?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll take the floor.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wynonna almost snarled, completely annoyed. “We don’t have to be those people who can’t share a goddamn bed. We’re adults, aren’t we?” 

“I guess,” Nicole grumbled and avoided eye contact. “What the hell is this song, by the way?” 

“It’s ‘Circles’ by Sammi Lanzetta. Why are you asking, Oscar the Grouch?” 

The redhead stayed silent for a second before admitting, “I fucking love it.” 

Wynonna turned the song up and felt the tension quickly subside as if they never yelled at each other at all. She loved the song, too.

* * *

Nicole realized she must have thanked Mr. Tarbell for the tenth time when she finally closed the door to the tiny room (with an arguably tiny bed). Unfortunately, when they had finally arrived at the house, the young girl was already asleep and Bryce was hardcore avoiding them. They didn’t really learn anything in those few hours they were there. Except that their phones were prone to shutting off the second they were on the land. 

She found Earp sitting on the window seat, staring at the sky. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun and she was wearing plaid shorts and a David Bowie “Fame” shirt. Almost in a ball, she was resting her chin on her knees. 

Clearing her throat, Nicole asked, “You going to sit there all night?” 

The brunette turned to face her, suddenly appearing much younger than she had ever looked. Her eyes looked almost glossy. “Maybe. Yo, have you seen the bed? I think there’s more room here.” She pointed to Nicole’s large t-shirt. “You a Billie Holiday fan?” 

Nicole looked down at her shirt and smiled slightly. “Actually, I think I stole this shirt from my ex and best friend.” 

Wynonna raised her eyebrows, a little shocked. “You’re friends with your ex?” 

She rolled her eyes and got into the bed. “Why are people always so shocked about that? It was a mutual break up. We realized we were better off as best friends.” 

Earp hummed as if she had no idea what that was like. “Well, whatever. Your friend has taste.” 

“I’ll let her know you said that,” she joked and rested her head on the pillow. “But be warned, she’ll probably want to become friends with you.” 

“Why would she want that?” 

Nicole stared at her a little sadly, watching as Earp’s blue eyes almost shined in the dimming light. “It is possible for people to like you, Earp. I’m not saying I do, but I think it’s possible. Are you going to sleep? I’m exhausted.” 

She watched as Earp turned around to look at the stars. Her stare lingered on the brunette before she forced herself to finally look away. 

* * *

She knew that she had to stop searching. At least, until Haught was asleep. She didn’t want the redhead to think that she was fully obsessed. Or incapable of sleep. All things that were true. 

She crawled into the bed that somehow already seemed overwhelmed with Haught’s scent. More uncomfortable than she’d ever admit to Haught or herself, she rested her head onto the pillow, trying to ignore the fact that if she moved an inch, she and the redhead would be touching. She didn’t like this. There was a reason why in hookups, she always made sure that they’d go to someone else’s place. She wanted to be able to escape into the night. She didn’t like the close proximity of her body with someone else’s. Or how she could hear someone else’s heartbeat. 

Wynonna could sense Nicole’s warmth. It was so close. It made her feel unsettled. Shaky. She didn’t know how to handle it. She tried to distract herself with the case, repeating the details of the case in her mind over and over again. 

And she waited. And waited. She waited until Nicole’s breathing rate decreased and evened out. And once it did, she slowly and carefully made her way out of the bed and out of the room. She hated to leave Haught alone, but she knew that the Tarbells wouldn’t do anything to FBI agents. She grabbed her coat and practically tiptoed out of the house. Feeling the brusk air against her skin made her feel better. Free. 

She looked up at the sky for a sign of life. For a sign of anything. She whispered the name of her older sister over and over again, hoping that she could hear her. Hoping that she was still alive to hear her. 

“You know…” Wynonna spun around to find Bryce standing there, his eyes somehow even darker than before. “I knew when I saw you. You’re not the normal FBI, are you?”

Wynonna felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Depends on your definition of normal.” 

He scoffed and approached her, staring up at the stars. “You know, y’all don’t need to be here. This problem, man or wolf, is something we can handle.” 

Wynonna vehemently disagreed. “It’s our job to be here, so we’re going to stay. You and your family, on the other hand, don’t have to stay.” 

He shook his head. “What? Sell the ranch? We moved here for stability. My daughter deserves that.” 

She bit her lip as she tried her hardest not to compare her own father to him. “Your daughter deserves safety.” 

Bryce was quiet for a second, as if he didn’t hear what she said. “You’re a believer. I know that look in your eyes.” 

Wynonna didn’t want him to see her in any way. “And you’re a non-believer who shames people who believe what they believe.” 

“Maybe I am.” He shrugged. “In the end, it doesn’t matter, does it? Believers, non-believers, we all leave this earth. In the long run, I don’t think it means anything.” 

When she looked at him, he started to walk back to the house, already done with the conversation. Wynonna was a little confused. She went through the whole conversation in her mind again as she looked back up at the stars. She hated that she always looked for answers in the stars when she never found any there. Her body barely noticed the cold as she stared up at the darkness, hoping she’d see something fly across the sky. 

* * *

“Haught.” 

Nicole stirred in the bed slightly but didn’t open her eyes. 

“Nicole!” 

She jumped up and stared into the dark room. She could find her blue eyes first. They looked almost wild. Feral. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark. 

“What is it?” She asked and rubbed her eyes. She could tell that Earp was wearing her jacket, as if she had been outside. “What’s wrong?” 

“Someone else was attacked. They’re dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! :D


	11. (crude) distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole learn who's dead. 
> 
> Wynonna tries to protect and save a soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! This chapter is a lil bit graphic as I'm writing about an autopsy. If that isn't your thing or it makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to skip this small part in the chapter!

She hated herself for missing it. She was too busy staring up at the sky to look around her surroundings and notice if anything was off. One minute she was hoping for a tractor beam or for a signal of any sort, and in the next minute, Owen and other law enforcement were running toward the house, worried that they had been attacked as well. 

After she had reassured Owen more than seven times that she was alright, he told her about the body. This time, Bryce hadn’t found it. But more importantly, this time, the victim hadn’t survived the attack. 

“Same kind of wounds,” he had started to ramble, running his fingers through his hair as his eyes became watery. “I should have done something. I should have asked the sheriff to get everyone off the ranch. I didn’t have the guts. I didn’t have—” 

She had put her hands onto his shoulders, steadying him. “This isn’t your fault. We had no idea it was going to escalate or escalate this soon. Do you know…” 

“Marla. Marla Flowers.” 

Wynonna didn’t recognize the name. “Where’s the body?” 

“In transportation to the morgue. We got photographs of the sc—” he stopped and shook his head. “Shit. You would have wanted to see the body at the crime scene, right?” 

She tried to control herself and not bite his head off, but the easy answer was yes. Of course, she wanted to see the body at the place where she died. A picture would help, but she liked to get a feel for the scene. She wanted to know what the killer felt, what the killer saw, what the killer did. 

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to go get my partner. You question the Tarbells. See if any of them are awake and if they were out.” 

“But—” 

“Do what I say,” she ordered, unable to hold back from the anger she felt about not being able to prevent the murder. “We need to take control of the scene. And then you’re going to take me to where she died.” 

He nodded silently and followed her into the dark house. Wynonna felt sick to her stomach. She was right there. Hundreds of acres away, probably, but close enough. She thought she would feel something. Hear something. Intuitively know something was happening. But she didn’t and someone was dead. 

Her partner was snoring softly. Wynonna paused before waking her up. She knew the territory they were heading into was extremely dark. She was used to it. Hell, she lived in it. But Haught? She studied cases and carved bodies. She never had to get into the killers' heads. Not like Wynonna had to. She wanted to give her a few more seconds of peace before ruining it. 

“Haught.” 

The redhead barely moved. She may have mumbled, but she didn’t wake up. Not like Wynonna thought she would. 

“Nicole!” 

She sat up, eyes wide and terrified. She was staring at Wynonna like she barely recognized her at first. Wynonna wondered for a second if she was still inside her dream. 

“What is it?” She rubbed her eyes and looked down at Wynonna’s jacket. “What’s wrong?” 

Wynonna gulped, hating that she was feeling like she was taking away Haught’s innocence. “Someone else was attacked. They’re dead.” 

Nicole’s jaw dropped, horror-stricken. _“What?_ How? What happened? Who’s dead?” 

“Marla Flowers,” Wynonna answered darkly and looked around the room to find clothes she could put on. “Unfortunately, the body’s already being transferred. But the crime scene should be secure. Put some clothes on, we got to go.” 

Haught looked uncertain and incredibly tired. “Were you already outside? Did you see it happen?” 

Wynonna shook her head as she took off her shorts and put on a pair of pants, ignoring how the redhead immediately looked away when she started to undress. “I was outside because I couldn’t sleep. Kolker found me a few minutes ago and told me. From what he knows, the Tarbells aren’t involved this time, but who knows.” 

She got out of bed and grumbled, “If you were able to get out of the room and house without waking me up, I’m sure any of the others could do the same. So you didn’t see or hear anything?”

She didn’t know if Haught was accusing her or not, but either way, she felt like shit. “No. I didn’t fucking see or hear anything. I was just…” _Staring up at the sky, hoping to see something that resembled what she had seen all those years ago._ “I wasn’t paying attention.” 

“I’m guessing if it was on the outskirts again, you wouldn’t have been able to see or hear anything,” she replied in a softer tone than before. Haught grabbed her clothes and headed out of the room to the bathroom. 

Waiting for her, Wynonna thought about the killer and looked down at her hands that were shaking. She bit her tongue. She didn’t want this to happen. Not here. Not now. It was dark, but she tried to make out all the things she could see around the room. The color of the wallpaper. The shape of the bookshelf. The number of dots of the popcorn ceiling. The smell of lumber and sage. 

“Earp?” 

She closed her eyes for a second before turning around. She wanted to make sure she was calm. That she was breathing steadily enough. With the taste of pennies in her mouth, she faced Haught, who had her hair up and casual clothes on. She looked different than the first time Wynonna had seen her. She looked less put together, but stronger.

Her throat felt raw, but she was able to ask Haught if she was ready to go to the crime scene. 

The woman grimaced in response. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

Her heart felt like it was continuously sinking. Nicole knew that this could happen, but she wasn’t expecting it. She hadn’t even braced herself for the possibility that the first night they were there, someone was going to die. 

“They were in their rooms,” Kolker informed them as they raced to the area of the land where the woman had been killed. “The Tarbells seemed shocked. But it looked like to the sheriff that the body had been dead for at least an hour. The blood was already drying.” 

Nicole knew that meant they might have had time to wash up and go back to bed and pretend like everything was normal.

“No medical personnel were on the scene?” Haught asked him, a little perturbed by the way it was all handled so far. 

“The EMTs came to reaffirm the fact that she was dead. They took her to the morgue. I—I didn’t know what else to do. That’s what happens when people die in this town. I’ve never had to deal with a m-murder before.” 

Earp looked unsurprised. “Who found the body?” 

Kolker gulped nervously. “I did.” 

Wynonna stopped walking abruptly. “You found the body? What were you doing out here in the middle of the night?” She sounded almost harsh, like she immediately considered him a suspect. Nicole watched him, wondering if a kid as innocent as him could possibly be behind these attacks. 

His eyes widened like his hero was letting him down. “I w-was patrolling. I’ve been trying to patrol at night. I thought maybe I could scare whatever was out there—” 

“You’re not Buffy the fucking vampire slayer, Kolker! Do you honestly think you would have scared off some wolf or homicidal maniac? Did you even tell someone what you were doing? What if you got killed and no one knew why you were out here? What were you thinking?” 

Earp was getting intense and it almost worried Nicole. She didn’t want the brunette to say something that would ruin their good relationship with the local law enforcement. And it hurt her to see Wynonna yell at someone she obviously cared about. 

Tears fell down his red cheeks. “I was _thinking_ that somebody had to do something! I couldn’t take someone else getting hurt.” 

“Yeah, well,” Wynonna turned to look away before starting to walk again. “Your carelessness could have gotten you killed.” 

Haught couldn’t help but think that this was totally something Wynonna would have done. Something stupid and reckless and selfless to protect someone else. It made her wonder if that meant Earp was really just yelling at herself. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and shook his head sadly. 

“Don’t apologize,” she retorted sharply. “Just tell me everything. Everything you saw, everything you heard, everything you could smell.” 

He nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I was walking with a flashlight. I had only been walking for, like, twenty to thirty minutes when I found here. Marla. Her eyes were still open and she had defensive marks and—” 

“Interesting,” Wynonna chimed in. “The others didn’t seem to have defensive marks, right, Haught?” 

She jumped, a little surprised that Earp was asking her anything. “No defensive marks. Which makes sense because they were knocked out almost right away.” 

“So maybe, Marla saw the thing coming. Or maybe she was stronger than the attacker thought she would be. Either way, we can hope she took some of her attacker with her. Skin, blood, something. Continue, Kolker.” 

“I knew she was dead right away,” he explained with dread in his voice. “I checked her pulse, but I didn’t have to. She was torn up badly. And blood was everywhere. It was different from the other victims where blood wasn’t found much anywhere. It was like the attacker became crazy violent. I called for back-up and the EMT. I tried to avoid touching her since I didn’t have gloves. She looked mauled, but I recognized her.” 

“Wait,” Nicole added in before Earp had a chance to talk. “You keep talking about the differences. Are you guessing that this was done by something else?” 

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. The claw and bite marks look the same, but it’s more exaggerated. Like it was so much angrier. It’s almost as if it was holding back before.” 

Haught shivered and saw the gathering of lights a few hundred yards away. 

“Any footprints?” Earp asked. 

He shook his head. “It’s all in the grassy area. And we’ve all walked over the scene. Nobody really knows what to do, Agent.” 

Nicole believed that and was glad he was being honest. She knew so many men who were overconfident in their abilities because that was what men were taught how to be. She hated that she constantly second guessed herself at everything she did while some entitled men were confident about shit they had no knowledge about. 

“What you need is,” Earp began with a deep sigh, “someone on their hands and knees looking at the ground. Anything could be useful. Hair, wrappers, junk. If we’re looking for a human UNSUB, like I think we might be, we need to be careful to make sure we collect any and all possible evidence.” 

Owen frowned and turned to the brunette. “Agent Earp… people have walked all over the scene already. I’m so sor—” 

“Still,” Wynonna interrupted, cutting him off. “We need to search for evidence, even if that means having to take the DNA of everyone who has been on the scene. Got it? Have people crawling now and in the morning.” 

This side of Wynonna Earp was one that Nicole didn’t know if she liked. It was intense, but all down to business. She thought she even might like this side of her since it meant no jarring or sneering comments, but this side of her was also a little cruel. Harsh. The kind of behavior she would have expected from a current BAU profiler. 

When they arrived on the scene, Nicole could smell it. There were pools of blood in the grass, but Nicole also noticed what looked like the aftermath of a tough fight. Hair, skin, ripped clothing. She hoped that meant some evidence that could help the case and that it wasn’t more of the victim’s leftovers. 

Kolker showed them pictures from the camera. There weren’t that many, but Nicole got the gist. She didn’t just look attacked, the victim looked completely mutilated from head to toe. And… slightly familiar. 

“Is that…” 

“The waitress,” Wynonna finished stoically like she was stating some random fact and cleared her throat. “We talked to her only a few hours ago.” 

Nicole remembered the woman. She had acted like she wanted to tell them something, but she didn’t say anything. Nicole didn’t think much of it at the time, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if she really knew something and was killed because of it. Or worse… if she was in danger, Nicole wondered if she could have protected her. Or at least could have warned her to stay away from the property. 

“Earp… we could have—” 

Blue eyes met hers and she felt the squeeze of her hand. Nicole thought she saw the other side of Earp when she grabbed her hand. As if for a moment, the brunette lost all of her rage and animosity and it was replaced with warmth and empathy. 

“Don’t. Don’t start thinking like that, Haught. We had no idea what she would have said if she decided to tell us whatever was on her mind in the diner. It might have had nothing to do with this, okay? We can’t think this way. Not now. It does her nor us any good.” 

She quickly released Nicole’s hand and returned her attention back to the photos. Nicole felt like the profiler had just read her mind and knew that she was falling apart. It was one thing to see a dead body. She had seen plenty of those. It was a whole different thing to see a dead body of a person she just talked to. It felt unreal. And the exact kind of feelings that Earp was trying to convince her to ignore. 

“What do you see?” She asked the profiler, trying to get her mind off of it. 

“Overkill,” Earp answered in a tone that was devoid of any emotion in the slightest, like she had just turned them back off again. “Maybe it wouldn’t be overkill if it was an animal, but—” 

“You don’t think it’s an animal.” 

“Right,” Wynonna agreed with the shake of her head. “This could be the work of a budding serial killer. But if that’s the case… it’s strange.” 

Nicole furrowed her eyebrows. “In what way?” 

“The victimology is weird. If Roger and Ia were their other victims, this killer is not paying attention to gender. Unless Roger was a mistake. But Flowers, she’s older. Closer to thirty when the other two were in their late teens. It’s strange. Like the killer doesn’t have a preference at all.” 

She hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe it’s random. You know, whoever is on the ranch land gets killed.” 

“Could be,” Earp muttered and looked down at the ground. “So, that would mean that this killer goes for the easy target. Instead of stalking and hunting, it goes for what’s ever there. If I didn’t know any better, it’s like someone is desperately fighting to protect the land.” 

Nicole tried to take all of that in and make sense of it. “Someone like the landowners?” 

Wynonna shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe. But even so, how could a human create so much carnage? This amount of mutilation… for a person, it could take hours.” 

“It’s not surgical, though. This looks angry.” 

She hummed. “It does. But even with so much anger, doing this? It takes a lot of strength and energy and time. But how the UNSUB would have done it doesn’t really matter right now if we don’t know the why. Why Marla Flowers? Why kill her when the UNSUB spared the others? And why does the UNSUB take on the character of a wild beast?”

* * *

Wynonna knew that it was technically an animal that was attacking all these people, but her gut said it was a person. An UNSUB. She found herself wanting to dive into the killer’s mind. It wasn’t her job anymore to think and breathe like a killer, but she knew she might need to. Even besides profiling, Wynonna was asking herself if this was human or something else entirely. Like a skinwalker or other kind of monster. 

She thought if it was a monster or a beast, it might be lacking control. Or perhaps, since it killed animals beforehand, it was now just losing control. She wondered if there was someone trying to tame the beast. Someone maybe even trying to hide it. 

There was a small part of her that could sympathize with something that couldn’t control its rage or shapeshifting. She thought about how lonely of a world it’d be in a place where no one else was like them. She could relate. See the darkness in herself. 

But if this was a human? She knew that would mean the start of a serial killer. The cattle would have just been practice or something to satisfy the urges. Maybe it was just refining skills. A hunter, she thought. A loner. The victims had low risk lifestyles and the crime itself was low risk. The attacks happened in the middle of the night where no one else was around. It spoke to some sort of organized behavior, except for the fact that there was no attempt at hiding the bodies and the UNSUB was leaving witnesses behind. Those behaviors could be disorganized unless the offender wanted the attention or was sure he wouldn’t get caught. 

(Her sickening thoughts got worse when she realized the small amount of time between the attacks wasn’t a good sign and it made her wonder if there were more murders and bodies before with this amount of violence and ego.)

“We gotta watch out,” Wynonna informed her partner, who still looked a little startled, even though they were driving to the hospital and morgue. “This killer might turn into a spree killer. Especially if he starts feeling suffocated.” 

The redhead frowned. “You think a human did this?” 

“A human is capable of anything if they have the right weapon, time, and skills.” 

She shook her head. “I’ve been thinking, Earp. If this _is_ a person, why haven’t we heard any reports about screaming? I mean, that kind of mutilation… and the people are on the outskirts. Not far from other ranches and houses.” 

Wynonna had been wondering about that too. “Well, unfortunately, it could be a coincidence that no one has heard or reported screams. Or, maybe the attacker incapacitates them before they have the chance. Our first two vics didn’t see anything, right? So they were knocked out. Maybe that was the case with this victim, too.” 

Haught furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t get it. If you’re going to do that much torture, why do it when someone is unconscious or dead?” 

Wynonna didn’t know how to answer that question easily. “Could be a sexual release, but that’s rarer when we have victims of different genders. Could be extreme anger. But usually with anger, the victims either are targets of someone’s rage or represent a person who the UNSUB is angry with. But all the victims are so different. My simple answer is I don’t fucking know. It doesn’t make sense to me. The only thing I can really relate it to is…” 

“What?” 

She locked eyes with her. “Hunger.”

* * *

This was her natural habitat. She knew that it was a little grotesque that she felt comfortable in a sterile morgue, but she was practically raised in rooms like these. Not only was every surface in her home covered in bleach, she spent all of her free time volunteering in hospitals until she was actually in med school when she practically lived in them. After years, putting on the scrubs, gloves, and masks felt natural. Cutting into flesh felt natural. But then she looked at her face. 

“You have to pretend,” Earp told her quietly as she came up from behind. “Don’t look at her face too closely and pretend that it’s an unknown cadaver.” 

Nicole nodded, glad to take that advice for once. She waited for Earp to make all of her observations. They took more than fifty pictures with the clothes on Marla Flowers’ body. It was hard to stomach, even though Nicole had been doing this forever. She thought she had seen it all, but this was something else. The body was so mutilated that she could see some of her intestines, bones, and organs. One eye was pulled slightly out of its socket. Nicole didn’t even want to guess how many bones were broken. 

And then, they had to take the clothes off. Earp didn’t trust the other mortician or Kolker, who was pouting in the corner like a kid who got in trouble. The clothes were ripped and frayed, but the trouble was that they were so soaked in blood that it was hard to peel it from the skin. They had to be slow and meticulous, not wanting to cause any more damage. Earp put the clothes, shoes, and jewelry into evidence bags that probably would have to be taken to an FBI lab. Nicole could do a lot, but not everything. 

“What is that?” She thought that no one would be able to hear her, but Earp quickly joined her and looked at the chewed neck of the victim. There was a clearish liquid. 

“Looks like saliva.” 

Nicole took a swab of it, hoping that it would confirm whether the attacker was animal or human. 

They took more pictures. More and more pictures. Of every wound, of every bite, of every piece of dirt or drop of blood. There were claw and bite marks that Nicole only thought could be from an animal. 

“Once the body reaches lividity,” Nicole suggested to the brunette, who was scanning the body closely for any hairs or fibers, “maybe we can try to make a silicon cast for the bite marks. We can see if we can match it with anything in the future. Might have to call in a forensic dentist, though.” 

Without even looking up, Earp replied, “Good plan, Haught.” She furrowed her eyebrows and looked closer at her hands. “You know, for someone who fought back, there isn’t a shit-ton of evidence like I thought. There are no fingerprints on the body and I only found one hair that might not be hers and it is thin, short, and dark brown. It might not even be the attacker’s. And under her broken nails, there is a lot of dirt. No skin or blood like I had hoped.” 

Nicole frowned, wondering if the killer had planned forensic countermeasures or if this was just luck. “Let’s take swabs of all the blood. It’s tedious, but we might get something.” 

Wynonna nodded and they went to work. It didn’t take long until they worked in a rhythm. Nicole had done other autopsies with other people before, but she always felt like they had gotten in her way. Earp was different. She always asked her before she did anything, recognizing that Haught was more of the expert. And somehow, they didn’t really get into each other's way. Like they could intuitively know what one another would do next. 

It took hours before they were finally finished with the autopsy. None of the findings were very surprising. The cause of death was the severing of the carotid artery. Nicole almost felt a little relief. It would have caused a quick death. They didn’t know how much she fought or for how long, but it appeared to them that she was mostly mauled after her death. 

Most of the lab work would have to be sent to the FBI, but Nicole wanted to check on the substance that appeared to be saliva. Earp turned out to not be wrong at her guess, but the specific kind of saliva startled her. 

She turned to the profiler, feeling like her head was spinning. “It’s definitely human.” 

“Of course it is,” Earp replied with a nonchalant shrug. Before Nicole could say anything, the profiler blurted out, “Let’s go eat some breakfast.” 

* * *

It was almost afternoon by the time they reached the small donut shop. Wynonna wasn’t hungry after the autopsy, but she wanted to get Haught out of there. She knew that the redhead had done plenty of autopsies, but she was guessing she never had to do one of someone she met or even someone who was involved in a gruesome case. She could tell Haught was good at her job, but she didn’t want to suffocate her when she was this new. 

“Before you ask,” Wynonna tried to joke to ease the tension, “this isn’t a date.” 

The redhead didn’t even glare at her. Her eyes were still glossy as she stared at her coffee cup. Wynonna gulped nervously, afraid Haught was already broken (and that Wynonna broke her). She tapped her foot to a song she recognized that was popular long ago. 

“Holy shit, this song is ‘Secrets’ by OneRepublic. Fuck, I forgot they existed. Do they even make music anymore? I feel like they just wanted to be Coldplay, but they did have a few hits.” When Nicole didn’t even hum in response, Wynonna knew to try a different tactic. “I am going to take off my clothes and make out with the next person who comes inside. Boobs out and everything. Even if it is an old person. Phoebe Bridgers made out with an old bat in her music video for ‘I Know The End’ so I feel like it’s acceptable. And I might just hump the pole outside.” 

“Hmm?” Haught hummed and looked up, her brown eyes incredibly soft and innocent in a way that made Wynonna want to protect her and send her back to Quantico immediately. 

“I’ve fucked approximately two rockstars, but you probably haven’t heard of them. Talk about strap on to heaven instead of stairway to heaven, am I right?” 

Finally, Haught groaned. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

“I don’t know if I’ve ever fucked a Nicole. One Nico I think. But then again, a lot of the time I don’t know the names of the—” She felt a sharp kick in the shin. “Ow! What the hell was that for?” 

“Holy shit, please stop. The last thing I want to know is what your sex life is like.” 

Wynonna couldn’t be more thrilled with her response. Haught was glaring at her. It was perfect. She hoped she could keep it going. She didn’t care if she pissed her off if that meant that Haught’s mind wasn’t on the body for a few minutes. 

“Whatevs. Does that mean you want to tell me about your sex life? Riddle me this, have you ever banged another redhead? I don’t think I’ve ever been with a couple where more than one person has red hair.” 

Nicole winced at her question. “What the hell is wrong with you? I am _not_ going to answer that or any similar questions. Don’t you want to talk about the case or the body or the—”

“Let yourself breathe,” Wynonna interrupted, knowing exactly what it was like to want to push through and keep her mind solely on the case. Hell, if Haught wasn’t there, that was exactly what she’d be doing. But Haught was different and Wynonna didn’t want her to burn out or lose herself in the case. Not this early in the game, at least. 

Haught narrowed her eyes at her. “Wait, were you trying to _distract_ me?” 

Wynonna shrugged. “Was it working?” 

“Not really.” 

“Shit,” Wynonna sighed, “I don’t know what else to talk about then. I know jack shit about you. But you like music, right? What’s the first concert you ever went to?” 

Haught’s face instantly became paler and she looked back at her coffee. “My first concert was when I was fairly little. My aunt and uncle were babysitting me and… it was bad. My aunt and uncle were hipsters and I guess a lot of people had bad trips and well… I don’t remember much and I don’t really want to.” 

Wynonna didn’t quite know how to respond to that. She wasn’t expecting to bring up traumatic shit, she just wanted her to think about something good. 

“Shit. I’m really fucking up this distraction thing aren’t I?” 

“I’m not a child, Earp,” Haught complained with the shake of her head. “I can handle this. I’m an FBI agent, too.” 

She rolled her eyes, annoyed that the redhead always thought she was trying to belittle her. “Going through the academy and reading a million textbooks can never prepare you for real life, Haught. This shit… it can tear you up and leave you in pieces faster than you ever realize.” 

“Is that why you quit the BAU?” 

“Part of the reason, maybe. But it’s not just the BAU that faces tragedy, Haught. It’s everywhere. We just happened to fucking stumble upon it. Unlucky motherfuckers we are.” 

The redhead sat in silence for a few minutes as she frowned down at her tea before she looked up and stared into Wynonna’s eyes again. “I don’t want to tell you about my first concert, but I _can_ tell you about the best concert I’ve been to.” 

Wynonna grinned, happy for once to learn something new about Nicole Haught even though they promised not to share anything with each other.

* * *

Earp wouldn’t tell her what they were going to do next. Nicole was grateful for Earp’s attempts at distractions, but she was feeling a little restless. She didn’t know what they should be doing, but she wanted to do _something._ Wynonna had already sent Kolker with the evidence to Utah’s field office and Nicole knew that a lot of answers would hopefully come from the results. She hoped that the perpetrator’s DNA would be in ViCAP and that they could easily catch the twisted killer with a solid evidence based case. 

“Hey, Earp,” Nicole began to ask as they got back into the rental car. “You still think the Tarbells are suspects, right?” 

Wynonna stared down at her phone. “There was human saliva at the scene, so if the attacker really is human, or at least partially human, yeah. I think they should definitely be investigated. And speaking of investigating…” She trailed off and called someone on speakerphone. 

_“Wynonna! You know that I’m thrilled you still have a job, but come on. I am still prohibited from working with you. You know that.”_ Nicole recognized it as the mysterious voice that Earp talked to during the last case. 

The profiler pouted. “Dude, you know you want to help me. I could really use the assistance here. We’re trying to figure out if this Tarbell family that lives on Skinwalker Ranch in Utah is connected to this murder. Specifically Bryce Tarbell. Can you do some research and see if there’s anything out there about him somewhere? I’ve got a bad vibe about him.” 

There was silence for a few seconds before the FBI analyst replied, _“I’ll help you if you join the D &D game! We need Frida and her hammer of force!” _

Nicole’s jaw dropped. She never would have thought in a million years that Wynonna Earp—angsty profiler and sexy UFO chaser—would play D&D. She watched with amusement as the brunette facepalmed and groaned. Nicole couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t give a shit that Earp played D&D, she just enjoyed the woman’s embarrassment. 

“You asshole. I put you on fucking speaker.” 

She heard him gasp. _“Oh my god! Nicole Haught! Are you there? I’m a big fan! You saved Wynonna’s job! You’re, like, a hero!”_

She shook her head, watching as Earp just rolled her eyes. “Hi, there. It’s nice to talk to you… I don’t think that I know your—” 

_“I’m Jeremy! Jeremy Chetri! Wynonna and I go way back. I helped her catch the Zodiac copycat in Milwaukee! We should get together when you get back! You can even join the D &D—” _

“Thanks for the help, Chetri!” Wynonna interrupted quickly. “Bye, now.” She hung up and groaned. 

Nicole just grinned at her. “Nice going there, Frida. How’d you come up with the name?” 

She hardcore glared at her. “I named her after the hottest painter ever, duh. Don’t look at me like that. I pay back Chetri via dungeons and dragons. That’s it. It’s just a transaction. Can you pretend you never heard that?” 

Nicole crossed her arms. “Why? You embarrassed that I know you play D&D?” 

Wynonna scoffed. “No, I’m embarrassed because now you think I have friends. The last thing I want is for you to think that _we_ can become pals.” 

“Wow,” Nicole snorted, “that’s real mature. We’re literally partners. Aren’t you going to even try to like me?” 

“Trying to not hate you is hard enough work, thanks,” she said and started to drive. “And besides, this partners thang, it’s short term, baby. You’re either going to write the report on me and get me fired or we’ll both get fired. That’s the future, Haught-vodka.” 

Nicole felt like the wind was knocked out of her. As Wynonna drove, she felt woozy. For as much as she thought she and Earp were making progress, it was like two steps forward, one step back. (Or maybe more like one and a half steps back.) But Nicole also knew she couldn’t blame the woman. Just because Nicole refused to give the report then, she would have to give it at some point or probably lose her job. She hated that those were the two options. It wasn’t like she wanted to work on strange cases with Earp forever, but she didn’t want to ruin the woman’s career either. 

Feeling like there was sludge in her throat, she asked, “Where are we going?” 

“Back to the hospital. Now that we know that there is an UNSUB, we might be able to direct more relevant questions and get them to open up.” 

Nicole nodded, wishing that they could go anywhere else than back to that hospital. She knew it was necessary, but she hated that place and hated having to open up the wounds for two traumatized people. It seemed unfair. Ruthless. 

Trying to keep her mind off of it, she commented, “Well, at least we know that it’s not animal, alien, or shapeshifter.” 

Wynonna furrowed her eyebrows. “Who said it’s not a shapeshifter?” 

“You cannot be serious! The saliva—” 

“Proves that it’s human DNA!” Earp interrupted passionately. “But who says a shapeshifter doesn’t have human DNA! And what about the vet who said that the claws and the teeth don’t match any animal she knows?” 

Nicole shook her head. “You said it before! Someone could have made a mouthguard or something like that with fake teeth!” 

She sighed like she was giving up. “I only said it was possible. Don’t discount the idea of a skinwalker.” 

She threw her hands up into the air, fed up. “But skinwalkers aren’t real!” 

Earp just shrugged. “Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes. She couldn’t wait to be the one to tell Wynonna that she told her so.

* * *

The doctors begged them to not talk to Roger. Apparently, since he had found out about the death of Marla Flowers, he had started to refuse medication and began to shut down, not letting anyone look at him or touch him. They explained to Wynonna that he was talking with psychiatrists and asked that they would leave him alone. 

Despite knowing it could be detrimental to the case, she didn’t mind not talking to him. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse for him. She knew what it was like to have scars ripped open repeatedly. She hated doing it to someone else. 

They were lucky that Ia was willing to talk to them. Wynonna wasn’t surprised by the young adult’s curiosity about what happened to Flowers. She knew that Ia was thinking about how easily she could have been her. It wasn’t an easy thought to have. Wynonna felt enough survivor’s guilt to know all the contradictory feelings about being the one who stayed and lived. 

“Ia, we’re just here to ask if you remembered anything else. Anything at all. It doesn’t have to be something you saw, but maybe you remember a sound. Or a voice. Or a smell, like perfume or an odor.” 

Ia scrunched her eyebrows like she was thinking hard. “I don’t know. When I think about it, it’s just the darkness that I remember.” 

“That’s okay,” Wynonna tried to reassure her with a smile. “You’re doing great, Ia. Have you had any dreams about what happened?” 

The teenager bit her lip and looked down at her hands. “I’ve dreamt about the darkness. And one time… but it’s just a dream. It might not mean anything.” 

Wynonna agreed. “You’re right. It might mean nothing. But we’ll still look into it, okay?” 

She nodded solemnly. “In my dream, I remember someone shouting. The voice is distorted, but I remember what it said.” 

Wynonna felt her heart start to race. “What did it say?” 

“It said ‘stop’ over and over again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If y'all wanna chat on twitter, I'm @incwynsita


	12. (mis)understandings and (dis)agreements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole make discoveries about a suspect and each other. 
> 
> A fuck-ton of other shit happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! A few things! 
> 
> 1\. Sorry for the slower update, this is a longgg chapter!   
> 2\. I edited this chapter while going through a shitty time, so this chapter might not be the most pristine (cue the Snail Mail song). HOWEVER I'm still really proud of getting this out.   
> 3\. The spotify link!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv>
> 
> 4\. This chapter is a dark one. I suck with warnings, but there is a mention of drowning and obviously a lot of murder.

_ It could have just been a dream.  _

Wynonna knew that. Hell, Ia practically said it. Memories have always been fickle. Wynonna read all she could about memories and the entire process of encoding and retrieving them. She knew that memories could easily shift and change and be manipulated. It was what made witnesses so untrustworthy. She definitely considered cases with only witnesses for evidence to be thin. She knew all of this not just because she had to as a profiler, but because her whole life had been impacted by a memory that people had been trying to tell her didn’t exist. They all told her that it was just a dream. 

And here she was. Thinking the same thing about what Ia was remembering. Except this time, this was a dream that could be uncovering a locked memory. She knew that this ‘memory’ wouldn’t be admissible in court, but she didn’t know if it was worth being investigated. One word didn’t mean much. Unless it insinuated more than one UNSUBs, which Wynonna was definitely not expecting since it didn’t fit the profile.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ia was dreaming about her telling her attacker to stop,” Haught theorized as they drove back to the ranch to look at the crime scene with natural daylight. “She could just be dreaming about seeing the crime outside of her body. It might be how she’s dealing with her trauma.” 

It was as good of a theory as any. Probably better than most. Wynonna knew plenty of agents who would have chalked it up to the victim being crazy or hysterical and moving on. 

“Could be.” 

She tried to turn the music up (“Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers) to end any sort of conversation so that she could remain in her head a little while longer. She wanted to think about the possibilities and come up with her own theories.

“Are you saying ‘could be’ as in ‘yeah, I’m thinking the same thing’ or ‘no, you’re an idiot?’” 

Wynonna internally groaned. “In the middle. It’s a good theory, but I’m not sold.” 

Haught shrugged and turned down the music. “Okay, so what are  _ you  _ thinking?” 

“I’m not sure yet.” 

The redhead raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have any theories? That’s so unlike you, Earp. Not one theory? Do you think it was just a dream and nothing else? Maybe a manifestation of the trauma and survivor’s guilt?” 

Wynonna tapped her fingers along the steering wheel. “Could be. I’m not sure if it’s just a dream or something else. Honestly, she could be remembering something that happened, but I’m not convinced completely. I don’t know.” 

“Do people really remember things in dreams?” 

“I dreamt once that my father was drowning me in a tub. Was it real or just a dream? Knowing him, it was probably the former.” 

That shut her up like Wynonna had intended it to. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the redhead stare down at her lap, her mouth slightly open as if she wanted to say something but just couldn’t find the words. Truth was, Wynonna didn’t want her to say anything. She didn’t want apologies or pity. She just wanted time to think and process because all she was doing was thinking about herself and she knew that wasn’t helping anyone. 

She hated that the only two people who would be able to know if what Ia heard in her dream really happened was Ia and the UNSUB and that Ia was technically unreliable. She knew that Ia wasn’t lying, but brains lied all the time. It was how they tried to stay sane and functioning. 

When they pulled up to the crime scene, Wynonna turned to look at Haught so that her new partner didn’t have to feel like she had to say anything at all. “Truth is, Haught-toddy, we don’t know if what she dreamt really happened or not. It shouldn’t make us change how we perceive anything. It could mean totally nothing. And even if it did happen, it’s not enough for us to go on. So we gotta just hustle and pretend like we didn’t hear jack, you know?” 

Haught opened her mouth for a second before closing it and nodding. Wynonna was grateful that she didn’t have to explain herself. At least, not with Haught. 

“Blood looks so different in the light,” Wynonna commented as they got out of the vehicle and walked around the perimeter of the crime scene. “In the night, it looks so black.” 

Nicole nodded and looked around with narrowed eyes. “I can see two houses from here. How did no one see anything? Or hear anything?” 

Wynonna shrugged. “It’s dark and most people are sleeping in the middle of the night. Maybe she didn’t scream. Or maybe the people in the houses are heavy sleepers. What gets me more is the fact that Kolker was on patrol and stumbled onto the body after the murder. If he showed up maybe ten, twenty minutes earlier…” 

“Yeah, well,” Haught sighed and shook her head. “He probably feels enough guilt. You don’t need to be adding onto it.” 

She rolled her eyes despite knowing that Nicole was probably right. Kolker was a good kid with a good heart, but what he did was incredibly stupid and could have gotten him killed. She hoped that chiding him would stop him from doing anything similar again. She didn’t want him to die out of selflessness. She saw goodness in him that she wanted to protect. (Similarly to the way she’d protect Waverly if she had to.)

“He’ll be fine,” Wynonna almost whispered as she crouched down and surveyed the land. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine being the killer. She touched the grass and breathed in the air, trying to imagine if it was what the killer was smelling during the murder.

_ Hunger.  _ She imagined having it. Whether it’s a person or a shapeshifter, there was a hunger there. A  _ need  _ to tear into human flesh. She imagined herself biting and ripping, but Haught had told her that she thought a lot of the wounds were made post-mortem. That might be overkill, but that wasn’t necessarily sadistic. She imagined the scene again minus the torture element. 

“The kill is similar to a wolf hunting a human,” Wynonna thought out loud. “No emotion to it, really. Just animalistic.” 

“Which would be why the victimology is all over the place,” Haught added, pulling Wynonna out of her daydream. “But what killer is like this?” 

Wynonna ignored the question. “It has lost its control. This UNSUB isn’t like a normal serial killer. I mean it  _ is  _ in the way that it won’t stop unless it’s stopped, but I don’t think it is evil. Or what society would deem evil.” 

“But the person is a murderer.” 

She found the redhead’s eyes and shrugged. “Plenty of murderers aren’t evil. Think of self-defense or war. That’s morally acceptable murder in our society.” 

Haught just shook her head. “But this is a choice to kill.” 

“If it was just a person, I’d agree with you,” Wynonna admitted and looked away to see if she could see the main house on Skinwalker Ranch that she was standing outside of when the woman was being killed. “A person has control over their actions, homicidal urges or not. But if it does turn into a wild beast… who’s to say it’s in control?” 

She rolled her eyes. “We don’t have any evidence to suggest that anything besides a normal human with fake teeth and claws did this.” 

“To be fair, we don’t have evidence to suggest there are fake teeth and claws, either. We found a hair. Maybe the FBI lab will figure it out.” 

“How can you keep believing this theory when there’s a much more realistic answer?” Haught asked her almost angrily. 

“Believing is what’s gotten me here. And I’ve seen more than enough to know that anything is possible.” 

Haught put her hands on her hips. “Like what?” 

“I know you, Haught. I don’t have scientific proof of the things I have seen. And I know you won’t believe me unless I have it. So, what’s the point of me telling you when you’re just going to think I’m crazy?” 

The redhead raised her eyebrows and took a step back. “Crazy? You’re a lot of things, Earp, but that is not the word I’d use.”

Wynonna couldn’t help but balk at her. She couldn’t believe that the woman thought she wasn’t crazy. Anyone who knew about her theories (except for maybe Waverly) practically voiced their concern for her sanity. For being a no-fun doctor, she thought that Haught wouldn’t be any different. Wynonna almost couldn’t believe it. 

“What?” Haught asked, almost getting offended. 

“I—” she paused and shook her head, not finding the right words. “Nothing. You know, I think it’s a reach, but maybe Flowers did know something about the offender. She did try to tell us something that night. I was thinking that maybe we should talk to the people she was close to.” 

She already started heading for the car, not waiting for Haught’s response. She wanted to focus all of her thoughts and energy on the case, not on Nicole Haught who was baffling her more and more each second.

* * *

Nicole rolled her eyes when the second they left the ranch, Earp’s phone started to ring. She hated how bizarre it was that their phones kept shutting off. 

“Yo, Chetri!” Earp answered on speakerphone. “What’s shakin’?” 

_ “I’ve been trying to call you for the last twenty minutes! This guy you want me to look into… Bryce Tarbell? He not only has a rap sheet for petty theft and vandalism, but when I started to look into him, I found a news article from a small town in Illinois. Turns out his wife was murdered and he was the prime suspect.”  _

Nicole watched as Wynonna’s eyes widened. They locked eyes and she just knew that they were on the same page. They knew before that there was something not right about the guy, but this was good evidence to suggest he was capable of more violence. Homicidal violence, more specifically.

“Damn. Do you have any details about the wife’s case? How was she killed?” 

_ “Uh, I’m searching… aha! She was found beaten to death outside of her home in the middle of the night. At first, they thought it was done by an animal, but the police apparently were convinced that it was Tarbell. He lawyered up, though, and the police didn’t have enough to get a warrant to get his DNA.”  _

Nicole winced. She hated knowing that there were so many people wrongfully in prison while people like Bryce Tarbell were out there in the world walking freely. She knew she wouldn’t be able to change the whole justice system when she joined the bureau, but she despised how little she had done so far to create any real change. 

Earp looked just as defeated. “Of course. Do you see anything about possible motives? The crimes here are random, but obviously, that’s a domestic homicide.” 

_ “Hmm… I found a newspaper article that suggests that his wife was going to leave him. That sounds like motive to me, if it’s true.”  _

Nicole piped up, “Especially since they have a kid, who we really haven’t been able to see or talk to really.” 

_ “Hi, Nicole!”  _

She smiled softly and rolled her eyes. “Hi, Jeremy. When’s the next D&D game that Earp has to go to?” 

_ “Oh my gosh, do you want to come? We always accept newbies! You can even team up with Wynonna if you want!”  _

Earp raised an eyebrow at her as if she was wondering if Nicole was actually wanting to play D&D. “Oh, thanks for the offer, Jeremy, but I was just making sure that Earp remembered her side of the agreem—” 

“Chetri, does the police department have anything that could help me?” She interrupted, glaring at her. 

_ “Let me see… even though they didn’t get Tarbell’s DNA, they do have the DNA of the offender. But since I shouldn’t be working with you guys, I think you should be the ones to call the police station. I’ll send you the phone number.”  _

Earp looked thrilled and Nicole matched her excitement. With the saliva of the offender, they should be able to easily make a match if it is him. This was good news. 

“Thanks, Chetri. I owe you.” 

_ “The game, Wynonna! That’s how you owe me!”  _

She groaned. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever, nerd. Text you later.” She hung up on him and pulled over so that she could make the call to the police station in Illinois. 

“Hey, Earp…” Nicole said a little softly, not wanting to say something completely foolish in front of the profiler. “He goes from killing his wife to killing random people. Isn’t that a little strange?” 

Earp looked up from her phone and hummed. “Well, a lot of the time serial offenders start out with someone they know, but it might not be the target of their rage. Actually, most serial killers kill people who represent the person they’re angry with, working up the nerve to kill their target. So it is a little rare. But maybe he killed his wife and got a taste for killing and now he’s on a rampage. Don’t worry, Haught-glue. We’ll have our chance to interrogate and understand him.” 

She nodded, feeling slightly reassured. But as Earp talked to a detective from the Illinois police station, she couldn’t help but try to ignore her nagging thoughts that something wasn’t right.

* * *

“You’re kidding.” 

Wynonna shook her head, watching with disdain as the innocence drained from his face. “Sorry, kid. Just got the call from the lab. There is a match from the saliva on Marla Flowers and the DNA found at the crime scene of the murder of Tarbell’s wife.” 

Kolker collapsed onto his chair. “I don’t believe it. I mean, I knew it had to be a possibility, but… I never thought it’d be someone in the town. Not really. Or at least, I was hoping it wouldn’t be.” 

She frowned and shook her head. For as angry as she was at him before, all of that vanished and all she felt was pity for the young deputy. “I’m sorry, Kolker. Really, I am. But we’re going to need your help in arresting him. He’ll trust you way more than us.”

He nodded solemnly. “Anything you need. Should I tell the sheriff?” 

“I think we should keep this between us,” she told him honestly, not trusting anyone in the police department. She knew that the Tarbells were not well liked, but she didn’t want to chance it. The last thing they needed was for Bryce Tarbell to get a warning from a cop that they were coming. Wynonna guessed that he was explosive and could kill anyone (including his child or father) to escape. “We need to catch him off-guard. We don’t want him to fight back.” 

She didn’t add the part where she still wondered whether he was fully human or not. While she wanted to know the truth, she really didn’t want to find out when arresting him. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to get hurt. 

“You really think he’ll try to make a run for it?” 

“God, I fucking hope not. You ready to make the arrest?” She didn’t want to give him any alone time. For as much as she sort of trusted him, she couldn’t be positive that he wouldn’t contact the Tarbells thinking it could help. 

He sighed sadly. “I guess so.” 

Wynonna turned to Haught, who had been fairly quiet for the last few hours, and blurted,    
“You know, you don’t have to be there for the arrest. Kolker and I got this. You can hang back and help search the house for evidence after we arrest him.” 

Haught raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? You don’t want me there for the arrest?” 

Wynonna knew she accidentally struck a nerve. She didn’t mean to piss her off (again), she just didn’t want the redhead to be in any unnecessary danger (if the man was indeed a skinwalker). “I thought it would be more efficient—” 

“I want to be there when he’s arrested, Earp,” Haught declared confidently without any hesitation.

She tried to shrug it off as if she didn’t care. “It’s not going to be pretty.” 

“If I gave a shit about that I wouldn’t have joined the FBI, Earp.” 

Wynonna couldn’t argue with that. She sighed and nodded, giving in. She wasn’t going to argue with her. When she started out as a profiler, others tried to bench her too and she wouldn’t allow it. She understood needing to finish the job and needing that satisfaction of putting the monster you’ve been chasing away for life. She just hoped that Bryce Tarbell wasn’t an actual monster. 

They shuffled into the rental car, Wynonna hoping that they wouldn’t have to call for back-up. Part of her even wished she had a silver bullet on her, even though the whole ‘silver bullet can kill a werewolf’ theory might be a myth. She was just glad that it was still light out. If there was a real monster in Bryce Tarbell, she hoped that it only came out in the dark. 

As she drove, she told them, “When we knock on the door, I think I should be the one to arrest him. I want him to keep his trust with Kolker. And he already doesn’t like me.” 

“What do you mean?” Haught asked her, sounding confused. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.” 

Wynonna chuckled a little bitterly, almost amused by her naïveté. “Just because he might want me does not mean he liked me. I’ve had plenty of people crave me and hate me at the same time.” 

“You think he hates you?” Haught asked a little softly. 

She shrugged. “Everyone hates me, Haught. But I think he knew that we were onto him. And besides. He’s not the kind of guy to appreciate the fact that he was going to get caught by two women. No offense, Kolker.” 

He mumbled something in the back of the car, but Wynonna couldn’t hear it. There was silence after that. Mind-numbing silence. “Alive” by Pearl Jam was playing softly, but she could barely pay attention to the words. She knew that they were walking into a situation that could get volatile and dangerous. She only really had two goals: arrest Tarbell and protect his daughter, Haught, and Kolker. If she could do that, she knew that it would all be fine. 

They pulled up to the house on the ranch and Wynonna tried to make eye contact with Haught. She wanted to tell her to stay back. To stay attentive and stay back. But Haught wasn’t looking at her at all. 

She kept one hand on her weapon. She hated guns more than anything and hated being forced to carry one, but she was thankful for it in this moment. She didn’t know if she was going to encounter a man or beast. 

Kolker knocked on the door and called out Bryce’s name. Wynonna stayed quiet, not wanting the man to know that she and Haught were there on the other side of the door. She knew that if she could get the man outside and away from his daughter, they’d have a better chance at arresting him peacefully. 

The door opened and Bryce was standing there looking disheveled and exhausted, like they just interrupted him while he was sleeping. Wynonna wasn’t surprised. It took a lot of energy to kill and mutilate a person. She knew a lot of killers who could only sleep well after they murdered. 

“Deputy… what’s this about?” He asked and crossed his arms, his eyes landing on Wynonna. 

Before Kolker could say anything, Wynonna said, “Do you have any weapons on you, Sir?” 

He scoffed. “Why?” 

“Bryce!” Mr. Tarbell shouted and approached the door as well, looking worried. “What’s going on, Agents? Why don’t you come inside?” 

Once Wynonna caught sight of the tiny and pale Alanah Tarbell, she stood up straighter. She knew she had to change what she was going to say quickly. “Bryce, can you come down to the station with us? We’d like you to identify the marks on the body that was found last night.” 

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why?” 

“Does he have to do this now?” Mr. Tarbell asked grumpily. “We were just about to go hunting.” 

“This is very time-sensitive,” Wynonna lied easily, trying her hardest to make it sound urgent, but not exactly threatening. “We could really use your help.” 

Bryce didn’t believe her at all. “What is this really about, lady?” 

She grimaced. “Bryce, can you please come with us?” 

Before he could say anything, his father stepped in front of him. “I don’t think that’s necessary. I can go down to the station and—” 

“No,” Bryce interrupted and put a hand on his father’s shoulder. “You look after Alanah, okay? Dad? Are you listening to me? Take care of Alanah.” 

Mr. Tarbell looked as bewildered as Wynonna felt. “But—” 

“You’ll be fine. Just look after her, okay?” Once his father nodded, he moved around him and stepped out of the house. He lowered his voice and said, “Just don’t put the cuffs on in front of my daughter, okay?” 

Wynonna didn’t think she could trust him, but she nodded, still in shock that he wasn’t trying to fight back. It totally went against everything she thought she knew about him and the behavior of killers like him. 

She grabbed his arm and led him to the car. “You’re driving, Haught.” She tossed her partner her keys and returned her attention back to the confusing man. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights?” 

He nodded almost solemnly, confusing her even more. She thought he would be smug about it. At the very least, she was expecting mind games and lies. But he looked unsurprised and not too shaken up. As if he thought this was coming and had come to terms with it. She couldn’t believe it, though. She was sure it had to be an act. 

She sat with him in the back seat of the car, keeping an eye on him at all times. She was expecting  _ something.  _ She thought maybe he’d be shouting about his innocence or declaring that they were framing him. She even thought him attacking her was more likely than his strange stillness. He wasn’t even shaking. 

After a few minutes, he sniffled and asked, “Can I make a song request? It might be my last, after all.” 

Hoping to get something out of it, Wynonna told him that he could and she passed him her phone, glad that it came back to life once they left the ranch. After a few seconds, a familiar song started to play. 

Before she had the chance to figure out which Derek and the Dominos song it was, Bryce said, “You know, my wife’s name was Layla,” and sat back in the seat while closing his eyes.

* * *

The song made Nicole sure that it was him. She thought only a psychopath could play the song about a woman who shared the name of a wife who was murdered. She almost felt like he was mocking them. Taunting them. She hated him. 

When they brought him into the station, she heard a few gasps from the few people who worked there. It was a powerful moment, but she didn’t think that it felt as satisfying as she thought it would be. 

Earp put him in the interrogation room and quickly started the recorder. With all the evidence they had, Nicole knew there would be a solid case against him, but she knew that Earp wanted a confession. She wanted answers to the millions of questions she had. And honestly, Nicole wanted answers, too. 

After stating all of their names for the record, Earp asked, “Do you remember the rights we informed you about? Do you want a lawyer, Bryce?” 

He smiled and shook his head. “No, thank you.” 

“Do you know why we arrested you?”

He nodded and shifted in his seat. “It must be about the attacks and murder, huh?” 

Nicole tensed up and she could tell that Wynonna was feeling the same way. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. She was sure he must have had something up his sleeve if he was this calm. 

“It is,” Earp answered, trying to match his level of calmness. “You look tired, Bryce. You do anything last night that would have kept you up?” 

He shrugged. “Well, I killed that girl last night. That’s probably why I look so tired.” 

Nicole had to reign herself in so that she didn’t gape at him. This was something she wasn’t expecting. She was hoping that Earp would get him to confess, but she never would have thought he would immediately do it. 

“How did you kill her?” Wynonna asked, somehow still remaining apparently relaxed.

“I attacked her viciously,” he answered simply as he sat back. “I knocked her out first. That way, I could be slow with the actual killing. Make it look like an animal. I’ve seen enough animal attacks to know what it would look like on a human.” 

Earp didn’t flinch and all Nicole wanted to do was crawl into the woman’s mind to know what she was thinking. “So why kill cattle? Why only hurt a few humans?” 

He shrugged again and cracked his neck. “Practice, I guess.” 

“And your wife?” Wynonna asked him, raising her eyebrows curiously. “Was she just practice for you, too?” 

A vein in his neck and forehead popped and Nicole could see the anger start to rise. “I don’t want to talk about my wife.” 

“Why not?” 

He twitched slightly. “I’m confessing to the murder of the woman. You don’t need anything else. I’ll write it all down, sign it. Hell, I’ll plead guilty.” 

“What about your daughter?” She asked him, challenging him. Nicole didn’t know what her game was. The profiler was obviously trying to enrage him, but she didn’t know why. Nicole was worried he would stop confessing if he got too angry.

“What about her?” 

“Do you not care that your daughter is going to grow up without her father?” 

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “My daughter has my father. She’ll be fine. Why you asking? You have daddy issues?” 

She didn’t move a muscle. “You know, a lot of killers have kids. And you know what? The kids don’t really overcome it. Your daughter’s going to have a life of people assuming she’s just as psychotic as you or a victim of yours. You know what she’s going to be asked, don’t you? They’re going to ask her if she watched you carve up your victims. They’re going to ask her if she liked—” 

He was reaching for her throat faster than Nicole had time to react. Even though his hands were in cuffs and were chained to the table, he got his hands around her neck for a second before Earp bit and hurt his wrist. Nicole didn’t even have time to push him away from her. He was already yelping in pain and Earp was already heading for the door, wiping blood off of her lips. 

It happened faster than a fight scene in a movie, but the adrenaline was still kicking in her body as they left the room. Ignoring Kolker, Earp made a beeline to the bathroom and Nicole just followed her. She wanted to make sure that she was alright. She knew she wouldn’t be if she was in her position. Hell, she wasn’t in her position and she was still not okay. 

Earp used a paper towel to wipe the blood off her hands and then washed them almost desperately, as if she was trying to wash the whole last five minutes away. Nicole felt a pain in her chest just watching her. She wanted to do something.  _ Anything  _ to ease whatever the profiler was feeling. 

She reached out to touch Earp’s shoulder when Wynonna immediately pushed her hand away. “Earp—” 

“I’m fine, Haught. Don’t worry about it. I was trying to get that reaction out of him.” 

Nicole furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding at all. “What? You wanted him to attack you?” 

“I wanted to see if he could get violent. Obviously, now we know he can. Though, I still feel like something is off. He didn’t react in the way—” 

“Wait a second,” Nicole interrupted angrily, trying to understand what the brunette was telling her. “You wanted him to hurt you so that you could see what sort of violence he was capable of? What if he really hurt you?” 

She shrugged and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I had the upper hand, Red. I know how to handle myself. With guys like him, provoking him with anger would be easy. Setting up and knowing when you’re going to get attacked is a lot easier than getting attacked when you’re not expecting it. Trust me. I’m fine.” 

Nicole felt her heart sink. She knew Earp could be talking about her job and her experience with serial offenders, but something about the woman’s words made it seem more personal. 

“Earp—” 

“Let’s go search his place and see if we find anything. Let’s hope he has weapons or maybe even a few souvenirs. Besides, we need our shit so that we can leave. I’m fucking tired of this place.” She swiftly headed out of the bathroom, not even giving Nicole a chance to take a deep breath or reply. 

Nicole chased Earp and couldn’t help feeling like a bomb had dropped. The only problem was, she didn’t know how much damage the bomb caused. 

* * *

Wynonna mindlessly touched her neck as she listened to “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” by Car Seat Headrest. There wasn’t even any bruising or a physical reminder of what happened, but she could still feel his hands on her like a ghost. He was violent, that was for sure. But he wasn’t exactly fitting Wynonna’s profile of the killer. She knew plenty of people who confessed to crimes they didn’t commit, but she didn’t know what Bryce’s reasoning would be. 

“Maybe he killed because he was searching for fame,” Haught mentioned on the drive to the ranch as if she was listening to Wynonna’s own ponderings. “Like Kolker’s mom said, living at that famous ranch wasn’t a mistake. Maybe he wanted everyone to think he was a skinwalker. Or at least had the power of one.” 

It was as good of a theory as any and she could tell that the redhead had been thinking about it a lot. She was glad that Haught was focusing on the case as much as she was. The last thing she wanted was for Haught to keep looking at her with those pitiful brown eyes. Haught was seeing several parts of her that no one else ever got to see. She liked working alone so that no one ever had to see what she would have to do (or have to give) to solve a case.

“Where do you think the wife comes into that?” Wynonna asked her, genuinely curious about her opinion. 

“Maybe it all comes down to that attention. If he craves it and his wife gave too much attention to someone else—like their child—he could have killed her because of it.” 

Wynonna slowly nodded. “Maybe it’s not just attention he needs. He made an entire town fear that a skinwalker was on the loose and causing fear is all about power. Just like killing his wife is the ultimate power move against her. Ultimate dominance.” 

Haught just shook her head with disgust. “Why do these people exist?” 

Wynonna snorted, knowing that it was a question all behavioral scientists ask themselves. “You know, most psychopaths are politicians and businessmen. Those people could have easily become killers with a different background, a different life. Are some people born killers? Is it in our DNA? Can we fight that instinct if it is in our DNA? I don’t know. All I know is that these people exist because our fucking society allows them to exist. Putting these killers in prison is just a bandaid on the problem, you know? It stops the bleeding—for a while—but there is still a deep wound. A wound that is expanded with poor mental health facilities, a poor justice system, and a poor education system. Why do they exist? Hell, I’m starting to believe society wants them to.” 

The redhead was staring at her, mouth slightly open for a few seconds before closing it. Wynonna almost let out a harsh chuckle. She hadn’t meant to start a diatribe, but once she started, she couldn’t stop. Usually, she didn’t have anybody to talk to about this shit. She knew a lot of people in the BAU who would have just rolled their eyes and said “it is how it is” before returning to their cases, hoping to find and monetize the next Ted Bundy. 

“Yes, I know. I should have my own goddamn TedTalk. I’ve been told I’m too crazy to do one of those. Or maybe they said I’m too pretty.” She winked at Haught, making the redhead roll her eyes successfully. 

“I appreciate your honest answer, Earp, even if it is disturbing. And now I kinda get why you didn’t stay in the BAU.” 

“The people in the BAU are pricks. I’m telling you. There is no Emily Prentiss or Derek Morgan.  _ Criminal Minds  _ lies. But at the same time, everyone is a prick because the job is fucking horrible. It’s a nasty cycle of pricks becoming even more of a prick. Please tell me your goal isn’t the BAU, Haught-fuzz-AKA-best-Edgar-Wright-film.” 

Haught scoffed. “It’s not. I always thought I’d end up in the Science and Technology Branch. I thought I’d do biometric or scientific analysis. Also,  _ Shaun of the Dead  _ is definitely the best Edgar Wright film.” 

“You’re wrong about the movie,” Wynonna joked lightly as she pulled up to the house on the ranch, “but I hope the FBI realizes you can be a fucking asset. When you turn me in, no hard feelings, you know?” 

It came out more soft and gushy than she had intended. She just wanted to remind the redhead that there was only one thing that she could do to keep her job at the bureau. She didn’t want to lose her job, but she didn’t want Haught to either. She didn’t want Nicole to lose her job  _ because _ of her. 

“What if I don’t want to turn in the report?” Haught asked, almost sounding offended. 

Wynonna shook her head. “Don’t be stupid. You want to be a real agent and you deserve more than the X-Files. I’ll be fine on my own. Hell, it’ll be nice to have big brother off my back for a while. But let’s focus on the task at hand, aight? Journals, weapons, souvenirs. Let’s hope this guy has something.” 

“We don’t need it though, right?” 

Wynonna shrugged and got out of the car. As they started to walk toward the house, she said, “For a trial, no, we don’t need any more evidence, especially if he pleads guilty. For me and my conscience, we need more evidence.” 

Before Haught had a chance to reply, the door swung open with Mr. Tarbell in a rage. 

“Where’s my son? Agents? Tell me where my son is right now!” He walked up to them, face red and intense. 

Wynonna was confused. At this point, though Mr. Tarbell had kindly let them stay in his house, Wynonna was sure that he must have known that his son was out attacking and killing people. But his reaction was telling a whole different story. His anger about his son being held by the police made Wynonna wonder if he either didn’t believe his son was a murderer, didn’t care that his son was killing, or that he was involved somehow. 

“Your son is under arrest,” Wynonna informed him as calmly as she could to de-escalate the situation. “He has confessed to the murder of Marla Flowers.” 

Mr. Tarbell scoffed and looked down at the ground. “That goddamn boy. That fuckin’ goddamn—” he stopped and glanced back up at them. “Where’s Kolker? I don’t believe you two. I need someone I trust here.” 

Wynonna sighed with frustration. “I can call—” she groaned when she remembered that her phone was dead on the ranch. “You know what? I’ll drive back to the station. Haught, why don’t you, uh… gather our things, huh?” She blinked twice to try to signal to her to look around the house for evidence. She wasn’t sure if Mr. Tarbell was completely innocent anymore.

Haught’s eyes widened. “Sure. Yeah. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive.” 

“I’ll bring Kolker right here, okay, Sir?” 

Mr. Tarbell grumbled something like ‘whatever’ before Wynonna raced back to her car. Knowing how fast she could speed in these small towns, she was sure she could make it back to the station in eight or so minutes. She was worried to leave Haught alone at the house, but she didn’t see it as a threat. Not with Bryce locked up and Mr. Tarbell knowing that she was going to return soon. 

Once her phone turned back on, she listened to “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica, hoping that she’d get to the station before the song ended. The adrenaline was kicking in again, allowing her to feel comfortable to go faster and faster. 

That is, until she drove over a nail that flattened one of her tires. Pulling over and cursing repeatedly, she started to text Kolker to pick her up when her phone died before she could send the text. Again. 

Closer to the station than the ranch, she decided to book it by jogging, hoping she’d run into some citizen on the way who’d be able to help her. Even though the sun was going down and people should have been going home from work, only a few cars passed by and they did not stop for her. She couldn’t blame them, really. There were a lot of killers decades ago that were either hitchhikers or were picking up hitchhikers. 

By the time Wynonna had made it to the station, it was already almost dark out. When she didn’t immediately see Kolker, she asked one of the deputies where he was. 

“He left like two minutes ago. I think he was heading out to Skinwalker Ranch. Said something about wantin’ to help you and the other agent.” 

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” She ran her fingers through her hair knowing that she had just wasted an hour of her fucking time. “Deputy, do you mind driving me down there? I got a flat tire on the way here.” 

The man just shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

* * *

Mr. Tarbell was practically watching Nicole non-stop until she reached the guest room and announced she was getting her things. She quickly looked through the guest room they had been staying in and the bathroom, but she found nothing that resembled any sort of evidence. She started to tiptoe to another room to search for more evidence when she heard a voice.

“Miss? Why did you arrest my daddy?” 

She spun around and found the young girl just standing there. She was incredibly pale, but she didn’t have Bryce’s dark eyes. Her eyes were extremely light and blue.

“Hi, there. You’re Alanah, right?” 

The young girl, who was holding a doll, nodded. “Where’s my daddy? Grandpa’s mad. He says you took him.” 

Nicole didn’t know what to say to her. She didn’t want to lie to the girl, but at the same time, she didn’t want to have to tell the girl what really happened, either. She didn’t want to traumatize her. She cursed Wynonna for leaving her alone. She had a feeling the brunette would know what to do in this situation. 

“I… uh… I think that’s a question you should ask your grandpa.” 

She tilted her head. “Oh. You leaving?” 

“Yes,” Nicole answered, glad that the question was easier to answer than the last. “Me and my partner, we live in DC. We gotta get back home.” 

“I miss home,” Alanah sighed and hugged her doll. “I miss mommy. I didn’t mean to make daddy so angry.” 

Nicole raised her eyebrows, surprised that she might actually get some answers from this child. “Why was your dad so angry, sweetie?” 

“I—” 

“Alanah!” Mr. Tarbell shouted, causing the young girl to jump. “What are you doing? Go back to your room!”

Nicole wished that the girl would just stay, but she didn’t want to make things worse. The young girl looked terrified and she quickly fled the scene. Nicole winced. Her dad didn’t yell often, but it was always the tone of his voice that made her want to be invisible. 

“Where the hell is your partner and Kolker? It’s getting dark outside.” 

Nicole checked her watch and frowned. “I’m not sure. They should be back by now. Maybe they got stuck behind some accident or something.” 

The man anxiously rubbed his face. “I had to move in with my goddamn son and granddaughter. I knew it would ruin everything. I don’t want her. I don’t want to be a parent again. Should I contact social services?” 

Nicole once again felt out of her depth. “I’m not sure. My partner might know more.” 

“Your partner, eh? You both should be on the road by now. It’s getting very dark. You should go, Agent.” 

She raised her eyebrows, confused as to why he was suddenly all nervous and fidgety when he was so welcoming the first day. “What?” 

“Get your things,” he commanded and turned around, his hands on his head. “It’s getting dark. You should get away from here. You need to leave right now!” 

She flinched, not understanding where this anger was coming from. But something about his body language and voice made her want to follow his orders. She grabbed her things and Earp’s, praying that her partner was going to show up immediately. 

“Where do you want me to—” 

“Go!” He shouted furiously, spit flying. 

She hustled to the front door, hoping that when she opened it, she would see Wynonna. While she opened it, she opened her mouth to tell him that she would be back when she found her partner. She didn’t get to say a word. All she saw was black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger! Mwahahahaha! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!! :D Come chat on twitter if you want! I'm @incwynsita


	13. finding safety (in her arms)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here are the answers. Sort of. Kind of. Or at least, Wynonna has a theory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! 
> 
> That cliffhanger was rough, but maybe some of this will make up for it. Maybe. Let's hope. 
> 
> TW // blood, death, and suicide is mentioned throughout this chapter. 
> 
> As always, here's the playlist!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=GlOuOCgqTYCTN8x_mya1Cg>

Wynonna knew something was wrong the second they pulled up next to Kolker’s car at the ranch. The front door of the Tarbell’s house was wide open and she could hear the sound of an ambulance siren off in the distance. Wynonna felt like the world sunk beneath her feet. She jumped out of the car and ran to the house, imagining all the possible scenarios. And then she saw it. _Blood._

There was a large smear of blood on the floor near the door, as if someone had dragged a body along it. She wanted to scream out her partner’s name, but she didn’t want to attract any attention from a possible UNSUB or monster. She took out her Glock (hating that she even had to take out her gun), somewhat aware that the other deputy was behind her carrying his own weapon (though his hands were visibly shaking). 

She moved through the house as quietly as she could, feeling her heart almost burn like it was trying to beat out of her chest. She tried to focus all of her attention on any sounds in the house. She didn’t want to be ambushed, but she also wanted to listen out for Nicole’s voice or cries for help. 

_Movement._ She aimed her weapon at the person, praying to anyone who was listening that she wouldn’t have to shoot. 

“Earp! Don’t shoot! It’s just me!” 

She exhaled at the realization that it was just Kolker, but her relief didn’t last long. He had blood all over his hands and uniform and his eyes were huge and desperate. His look of terror made her wonder what else was in the house that he’d know she’d find. She felt sick, repeating ‘not Haught, not Haught,’ over and over in her head like a mantra. 

“Where’s my partner?” 

Kolker opened his mouth and shook his head, as if he couldn’t say it out loud. Wynonna growled and pushed past him, not wanting to waste time trying to understand his silence. She had to find her. Get to her. 

While the other deputy comforted Owen, who had probably just seen the most traumatic thing of his life, Wynonna headed toward the kitchen. She could smell it before she saw the bodies. It was a fucking bloodbath. Three bodies. All apparently still. 

Her eyes were immediately drawn to Haught’s body that was slumped on the floor, but she knew she had to check on the other civilians first. Tarbell’s eyes were wide open. Dead. She checked the pulse of the young girl (who seemed to be shot, just like her grandfather) first. When she didn’t find one, she ran to her partner, almost slipping in the blood. Unlike the others, Haught looked mauled. Not as much as Flowers, but enough to…. 

There was a pulse. A weak one, but a pulse nonetheless. She pulled the woman into her arms and tried to find the major sources of bleeding so that she could put pressure on it. Wynonna knew, though, that Nicole needed much more than her own hands. She needed professionals. 

“Where’s the fucking medic?!” She shouted to the other deputies in the other room. “My partner needs help! Where the fuck are they?” 

“They’re coming!” the other deputy shouted back, barely reassuring Wynonna in the slightest. 

Her hands and body were covered in Haught’s blood, but she didn’t care. She would hold onto the redhead for as long as she could if that meant keeping her alive. She would do anything to help her. Fuck, she wished she could replace her. 

“Don’t you fucking dare die on me, Haught!” She whispered harshly with one hand on the woman’s stomach and the other on her neck. “Keep fighting! Please, Nicole. Keep breathing. You’re going to be f—” she choked out a sob and shook her head. She couldn’t lose her. It was as simple as that. She couldn’t lose the one person who saw past her obsession with unexplained phenomena and _saw_ her. She couldn’t lose her. 

She could hear the paramedics rush into the house, she sighed with a breath of relief. When they came into the kitchen, she informed them that the others were dead, but that the woman in her arms was alive. But just barely. 

Wynonna didn’t want to let go of her, even though she knew she had to. A paramedic had to peel her arms away and promise she could ride to the hospital with her. She felt like a zombie as she hustled into the ambulance. She knew Kolker said something to her, but she couldn’t hear it. 

The paramedic was doing all these things to Haught while they were riding to the hospital, but Wynonna saw it happen in flashes. She thought she was going to throw up. She had seen plenty of violence and blood in her line of work (more any person should), but this was tearing her apart. They were asking her questions about Haught that she didn’t have the answers to. She only knew her name, age, and what Wynonna presumed happened to her. 

_She left Haught alone with a monster. It was all her fault. She thought Haught would be safe. She wasn’t._

She started to shake. She was aware that someone asked her if she was okay, if she was injured at all. She just shook her head, unable to tell them that she was just on the brink of losing it. She tried to stop. She tried to think about the things she could see, the things she felt, the things she could smell, but all she could sense was blood. Haught’s blood was all over her. 

Her chest started to hurt and she started to list things. All the things that made her feel good. Waverly’s warm hugs. Graphic novels. “Cowboy Take Me Away” by The Chicks. Dark chocolate. Willa’s harsh and hilarious jokes. _Finding Nemo._ Her mother’s leather jacket that she used to always wear (even in the summer). _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._ Black iced coffee. “Rock Bottom” by Modern Baseball. Nicole’s laugh and glare (playful or not). 

She jumped when the vehicle stopped moving. She had dug her fingernails so deep into her palms of her hands that they were bleeding, but she ignored the pain. Haught was still alive. 

The medic was telling her that Haught might need surgery and that she had to hang back, but she just kept telling anyone who would listen that she was an FBI agent. She begged and begged them to let her stay with her, but they told her she had to stay in the waiting room. 

She could tell that people were staring at her, but she didn’t give a fuck. She knew that she had to call someone, that Haught would probably want her family here, but she didn’t know who to call. So instead, she called a person who might have some answers. 

_“Earp? Are you calling with an update on the case or have you run into a problem?”_

She rubbed her lips together, trying to summon the right words. “Dolls, Haught… she’s in the hospital.” 

There was a minute of silence before he started to talk again. _“What happened, Earp? Are you okay?”_

She didn’t know where to start. “We arrested someone who we thought was the offender. But I think… I don’t know. I w-wasn’t there. I went to get more back up and I came back to find her… everyone else in the house is dead. It’s all my fault. I—” 

_“Take a deep breath, Earp. Is she in critical condition?”_

“I don’t fucking know. I don’t think so, but I don’t know who to call. She has family and I don’t even know who to call. I don’t know what to do.” 

_“I’ll call her family, Earp. The hospital is probably already contacting her emergency contact. But let me ask you this, do you think there’s a killer on the loose?”_

“No,” she answered breathlessly, “no, I think the killer’s dead.” 

_“Okay. You stay put, Earp. I’ll call the family, but keep me updated, alright?”_

He was being almost kind. It was the last thing she had expected from Dolls, who usually acted like an emotional robot when she interacted with him. She didn’t know how to react to this new behavior. She was expecting to be yelled at. She almost wanted it. She knew she deserved to be punished. 

“I—okay.” She hung up and stood up, feeling a wave of nausea hit her like a truck. 

She ran to the bathroom and emptied out her stomach. She was glad that it made her feel a little better. She drank some water from the sink before she started scrubbing the blood off her hands. Some of it was her own, but most of it was Nicole’s. 

As she scrubbed her skin raw, she started to softly recite the paragraph in the book she used to read to distract herself when she was younger. She hadn’t done this in years. She hadn’t needed to. Not until now. 

“Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In buckets, I swear to God. All the parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under the roof of the carousel, so they wouldn’t get soaked to the skin or anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could’ve been there.” 

She still knew all the words. She murmured them over and over again as she walked back to the waiting room mindlessly. She sat on the chair and curled up, trying her hardest not to cry again. She could hear her father’s words. _Crying never helps nobody._ For once, she wondered if he was right. 

“Wynonna!” 

She looked up and found Kolker there, still covered in blood. He ran over to her, tears spilling from his eyes. He didn’t touch her. She was glad that he knew better. 

“How is she?” 

“Alive when we got here. They’re working on her. What happened?”

He sniffled and sat down next to her on the chair. He placed his head in his hands. “When I got there, I knew something was up. The front door was wide open. When I got inside… I—your partner was already on the ground. And so was the girl. The man was shouting. He was still holding his weapon, aiming it at me. He begged for me to listen. He said that the girl was a monster. That she was going to kill him if he didn’t stop her. He was acting crazy. And he wouldn’t lower his weapon. So I—I then called for an ambulance on the landline after I—” 

He stopped, but Wynonna knew what he wasn’t saying. Kolker saw the carnage, felt threatened, and shot Mr. Tarbell. Wynonna tried to take that all in, but she couldn’t stop focusing on Haught. On her body. Her blood. 

“Sheriff says I did the right thing. He checked in on Bryce Tarbell in his cell. He hung himself. Sheriff thinks it might have all been Mr. Tarbell all along. The DNA never matched Bryce’s, did it? It just matched the killer of Bryce’s wife.” 

Wynonna tried to digest his words. Owen thought Mr. Tarbell was behind it all. But the Mr. Tarbell that Wynonna knew at the beginning… he was so helpful and genuine. If he was the killer after all, Wynonna was duped by one of the best liars she had ever met. 

“You said that Mr. Tarbell claimed that his granddaughter was a monster?” 

“Yeah, but… he must be crazy. She’s just a little girl.” 

She slowly pieced it together. _Alanah Tarbell._ The one person that Bryce would protect at all costs. The person Bryce would confess to protect. It made her wonder if it was Bryce who Ia heard begging his daughter to stop. She pondered if Bryce was a shapeshifter himself and was trying to help his daughter control herself. If she killed her mother accidentally… he would move her away. He would bring her to a place that was already known for its cattle mutilations. That way his daughter could feast on animals and it wouldn’t raise too many questions. It was making sense. Maybe too much sense. Her mind was racing. 

“Earp…” 

“I was driving to pick you up. I never should have left her alone. I never should have—” 

“It’s not your fault,” he interrupted gently and reached for her hand before she moved it away. “Wynonna… we thought we had the right guy. We _all_ thought we had the right guy. Bryce confessed. How were we supposed to know?” 

“But I should have known better. I should have known that Bryce’s reaction to being arrested didn’t make sense. I should have _known._ And because I fucked up, two people are dead and Nicole’s—if she doesn’t make it, I don’t know…” 

“If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last few days,” Owen said softly (more softly than Wynonna deserved), “you and your partner might be the two toughest women I’ve ever met. She’s going to make it. I can feel it.” 

The words were caught in her throat. She looked into his eyes and realized that he was telling the truth. She mouthed the words ‘thank you’ and wiped away her tears that had reluctantly fallen. She needed to hear that. 

“I can stay here,” he whispered. “Until she wakes up.” 

Wynonna never needed anyone. But she couldn’t even think about the possibility of being alone. Not now. 

“Can you tell me something? Please? Tell me about your life. Tell me everything.” 

He didn’t even question her. He just nodded and started to tell her about his parents, how they loved each other, and how they loved him.

* * *

_“Apparently, it’s supposed to snow in DC tonight. We might fly in with snow on the ground. I grew up with a lot of snow. I loved it as a kid. My sisters and I—it was just fun as a kid. Fucking hated it when I got older. Kinda like it again now. I do wish I could have more snowball fights…”_

_*-*-*_

_“‘Oh, it’s been all right,’ said Luna. ‘A bit lonely without the D.A. Ginny’s been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me ‘Loony’ the other day —’ ‘How would you like to come to Slughorn’s party with me tonight?’ The words were out of Harry’s mouth before he could stop them; he heard himself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.”_

_“You know, Haught? I lowkey wanted Luna to either end up with Harry or Ginny. Or both. Holy shit, that’d be hot.”_

_*-*-*_

_“It’s been almost six hours, Haught. I know you must be fucking tired after… you know. But can you wake up for me? I just… please? I want to know you’re okay. I want… fuck. This is all my fucking fault. You don’t have to forgive me, Haught. I just want you to wake me up. Even if you hate me forever. Just wake up. Please.”_

_*-*-*_

_“Dolls told me he called your parents. Apparently, after they found out you were recovering, they refused to come here. They sound like assholes, no offense. I’m really sorry. You deserve better. But Dolls gave me some time off so that I can stay. He’s a bureau soldier, but maybe he has a heart after all.”_

_*-*-*-_

_“Distant solar systems and all the minor planets_

_Know nothing of our satellites and 747s_

_Fireworks that recreate the birth of constellations_

_Dying suns_ _that laugh at shotgun powder imitations_

_When I am a sailor, and the sky, a pitch-black ocean_

_I'll look down at my bleeding heart and wish I were a Vulcan"_

* * *

Wynonna practically lived in Nicole’s room. The nurses even let her stay there overnight. She guessed they felt bad for her (and she might have let the nurses believe that they were a couple). Kolker brought her clothes and sat with her in comforting silence for a few hours. Nicole might have not been in any danger anymore and was supposed to wake up soon, but there was no way she was going to take her eyes off of her. She almost lost her. She wasn’t going to risk that happening again. 

Haught lost a lot of blood. That was what the doctors told her first before they went into further detail. She had lacerations along her abdomen. Cracked ribs. A concussion, the doctors guessed. These were wounds she would recover from, they reassured her. She would wake up and recover. She would _live._ That was what kept her going. If she stopped thinking about that, she knew she might just completely fall apart.

Instead of sleeping, she watched after the redhead. To pass the time and comfort her, she read to her the only book she had on her phone, and sang to her softly, like her own mother did for her when she was younger and stuck in bed. When her mother sang, she remembered feeling healed. Childishly, she hoped it might have a similar effect now. 

“She told you that she loved Julien Baker, huh?” 

Wynonna spun around and found a gorgeous woman standing at the door. Her jaw almost dropped, in awe of how impeccable and flawless this stranger was. She was not just tall, she had this tall energy that made Wynonna feel almost insignificant. Just seeing the woman move, Wynonna knew that she was not one to be messed with. 

“What?” 

The woman smiled for a second and entered the room. “You were singing Julien Baker. It’s Nicole’s favorite. How is she?” 

Wynonna went from caught off guard to paranoid in less than two seconds. The woman said Nicole’s name as if they were all good friends (or, perhaps, more than that). Wynonna didn’t even know that Nicole liked Julien Baker. She was singing it because she loved it. 

“She’s recovering. Who the hell are you?” 

“Shit, I’m really fucking this up. I’m Shae. Shae Pressman. I was called as Nicole’s emergency contact. I would have gotten here sooner, but I had the worst shift at the hospital and—sorry. You don’t want my life story. You must be Nicole’s new partner, right? Wynonna Earp? It’s nice to meet you.” 

Wynonna narrowed her eyes at the woman, trying to figure out if she could trust her or not. She just made a mistake that ended with two people dead and Haught in the hospital. She didn’t want to make another mistake. 

“Uh-huh. Who are you to Haught?” 

“Her best friend,” Shae explained and sat down next to her, looking at the redhead with so much concern that it overwhelmed Wynonna. “Well, technically, I’m her ex-wife. But I prefer being called her best friend. I’m sure Nicole would prefer that, too.” 

Wynonna found herself gaping at her again. Haught told her that she had an ex who was her best friend, but she didn’t say that her ex was her wife. Wynonna felt like that must have been a big deal, but then again, they didn’t tell each other much (though Wynonna knew she told the redhead more than she might have told anyone in the bureau). 

“You look shocked. Guessing she didn’t tell you, huh? Of course she didn’t. Why would she? Sorry about that. I don’t mean to… intrude or anything. I just—what happened?” 

The nausea hit her again. She didn’t even think she could even say it. 

“What happened to her medically or…” 

“No, I already talked to the other doctors. Who did this to her?” 

She didn’t want to go too much into detail. She didn’t want to tell the woman that _she_ was the one who did this. That it was her mistake that caused this. But she didn’t want to lie, either. Not to this woman who loved Haught.

“I did.” 

She watched as the doctor furrowed her eyebrows. “What?” 

“We arrested the wrong person—or at least we didn’t make all the right arrests—and I left her in a house that I didn’t know was unsafe. She was attacked and I wasn’t there to p—” she stopped, not able to finish saying that word. “I put her in danger. She’s hurt because of me.” 

The gorgeous woman just blinked at her for a few seconds as if she was mulling it over. “She’s an agent in the field. Her job—that she chose—is inherently risky, Wynonna. She knew what she was getting herself into when she joined the academy.” 

Wynonna vehemently shook her head. “No. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into. I promised her she’d be fine, that I’d stand between her and any danger. She had no idea—” 

“She’s not an idiot,” Shae interrupted, finally showing some rage. “She is the smartest person I know. She wanted to be in the field knowing that it was dangerous. Look, I don’t know what exactly happened, but I know Nicole. Probably better than anyone. And I know that she wouldn’t just go along with something if she disagreed with it. If she stayed in that house, it was her choice, too. And I know that if she was awake, she’d tell you to stop blaming yourself. Seriously. It doesn’t do anyone any good. She’s going to make a full recovery. That is all that matters, okay?” 

Wynonna knew that this woman wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She _liked_ her. Shae was tough and probably just as stubborn as Nicole. Wynonna could see how they’d connect so easily. But as confident as Shae was in Wynonna’s innocence, she was afraid to take it all to heart. She knew that it was a possibility that Haught would feel differently. And even if she didn’t, Wynonna knew how she failed her. That was enough to feel guilt. 

She tried to nod to reassure the woman, but she really just wanted to change the subject, afraid that Shae would try to get her to open up about her guilt. “How’d you two meet?” 

“Med school,” Shae told her, grinning at the memory resurfacing. “We were both the top of our class. It should have made us enemies, but we just hit it off. We had one project together and that was it. I was surprised, too. Nicole didn’t have many friends, so I never thought I’d crack her shell. We were together romantically first and it went really fast. Like, _really_ fast. We both had similar backgrounds with homophobic parents that expected a lot, so I think we mistook complete understanding for, like, soulmate shit, you know?” 

Wynonna didn’t know what that was like, really, never being in a relationship herself. But Shae was so genuine that Wynonna really understood what she meant. She nodded, allowing Shae to continue. 

“We got married really soon. Too soon. And we didn’t even tell anybody and it was just sort of a disaster because we didn’t even live together and I don’t think we even really wanted to. It’s not even like we were unhappy or got into fights all the time. I don’t know. One day we just realized we were best friends having sex and that was that. We divorced. After that, we just remained best friends.” 

Wynonna was shocked by all the honesty, but appreciated it nonetheless. “That might be the happiest divorce story I’ve ever heard.” 

Shae snorted and nodded. “Totally. And I completely lucked out, you know? She’s still the most important person in my life, just not as my wife. Are you or have you been married?” 

Wynonna winced, hating that she was being asked something personal (except she felt like she couldn’t refuse to answer now that Shae had been so forthcoming). “Nah, never. Honestly, I’ve never been in a long-term relationship. Don’t think it’s really possible for me.” 

The woman didn’t frown or look at her with pity, which was something Wynonna hadn’t expected. “I sorta feel you. Being a doctor means horrible hours. Dating is almost impossible. At first, I thought it was stupid that in _Grey’s Anatomy_ they all date each other, but now I get it. Basically, I’ve had a million first dates and one-night-stands. That’s about it.” 

She nodded, relating to the latter. “That sucks, man. I’m sorry about that. I’ve never really looked for a relationship, so that’s my main excuse. And I’m totally not marriage material.” 

“Hey, if Nicole likes you, you must be a catch,” Shae joked with a wink. “And you’re hot as hell, which is a complete plus.” 

Wynonna barely heard the compliment. “Haught likes me? You gotta be shitting me.” 

Shae grinned. “She didn’t say it in so many words, but that was what I gathered. She stuck her neck out for you. She’s a badass, but she wouldn't do that for just anyone.” 

It was hard for Wynonna to believe. She had been sure that the redhead barely tolerated her and that she didn’t turn in the report out of some strange pity or curiosity. She never would have guessed that Haught liked her or wanted to work with her. 

“You look completely stunned.” 

“I am,” Wynonna answered, not knowing what to say. “Sorry, I just… it’s hard for me to think anyone would like me. I’m sort of a giant asshole.” 

Shae rolled her eyes. “Funny. Nicole told me something similar years ago. Maybe you two are more similar than you think.”

* * *

Nicole had been in and out for hours, catching words here and there, never having the energy to open her eyes. Every time she gained at least semi-consciousness, though, she knew that Earp was there. She didn’t know if the brunette ever left her side. 

When she stopped trying to remember what happened and who attacked her, she tried her hardest to listen to what Earp had to say. Mostly, Earp was apologizing for what happened. Nicole would do anything to just wake up and reassure the profiler that she was fine, that it wasn’t Wynonna’s fault, but she couldn't muster the strength. Other times, she heard fragments of stories and songs. It soothed her, even if she couldn’t wake up.

This time, though, when she gained consciousness, she felt slightly stronger. At least, she didn’t feel the urge to just go back asleep again, which was an improvement. 

“You’re fucking kidding. You gotta be.” _Earp._

“I’m not!” Nicole was startled to hear Shae’s voice, especially since she sounded so unguarded with Wynonna, as if they had been friends forever. She tried her hardest to open her eyes, just to make sure this wasn’t just some insane drug-induced dream. Once she did, she saw her partner and her best friend just sitting next to her, bickering. “I’m sorry, I prefer NSYNC. Backstreet Boys had their place, but—” 

“Are you two,” Nicole cleared her throat, finding it scratchy and dry, as if she hadn’t used it for days, “really arguing about boy bands while I’m unconscious?” 

“Holy fuck, Haught!” Earp shouted, grinning from ear to ear. It even brought a shy smile to Nicole’s lips. “How are you feeling?” 

Shae got up and passed her a cup of water she could sip from and then tried to move/fluff her pillows. “Maybe I should go get the doctor and let them know—” 

Nicole attempted to shake her head, but it made her feel a little woozy. “I’m fine, Shae. Sit your ass down. I want to catch up with you two new best pals first. How long have I been out?” 

Wynonna looked up at the clock and answered, “Only like fifteen hours and six minutes. You’re hot ex got here a few hours ago.” 

Nicole tried to ignore the fact that Earp called her best friend ‘hot’ (though she realized that probably everyone on the planet thought she was hot) and glared at Shae. “I can’t believe you came! What about your shift and the hospital and—” 

“You’re an idiot if you thought I wouldn’t come and help,” Shae interrupted her with a simple shrug. “I’m your emergency contact, still. Which is a good thing, I guess.” 

She grimaced, the question she wasn’t sure she wanted to be answered at the tip of her tongue. “Guessing my parents didn’t make the trip, huh?” 

Shae frowned empathetically. “Sorry, babe. They’re complete assholes.” 

Nicole felt the pain rush into her chest, but it wasn’t from the attack (that she still couldn’t remember). “I shouldn’t be surprised, and honestly, I shouldn’t care. I’ve got you. _Both_ of you. I don’t need them.” 

She said it so effortlessly she didn’t realize she said anything of importance until she noticed that Wynonna’s eyes widened. Earp had the same look as she did at the Tarbell’s residence while she looked out the window. _Soft._

Trying to focus her attention on something other than Earp, she asked, “What… what happened, exactly?” 

“Medically,” Shae explained with a deep sigh, “you’re going to be absolutely fine. They’ve stitched up your deep cuts and your broken rib will heal with time. You’ll be up and at ‘em soon.” 

She sighed with relief, glad that she was going to recover and get back to work soon. But she got a look from Earp that told almost a different story. She raised an eyebrow, trying to ask the woman what really happened. 

Earp inhaled sharply. “Do you remember anything?” 

Nicole gulped and shook her head slowly. “Not really. I remember trying to leave the house because Mr. Tarbell told me to but I… I think I was just knocked out.” 

“That makes sense,” Wynonna said gently. “Doctors think you got a pretty bad concussion. And that fits in with the rest of the attacks.” 

It didn’t make much sense to Nicole, though, who was sure that it was Bryce who was behind the attacks and murder. “But I don’t get it. Was it not Bryce? What happened?” 

Shae interjected as Wynonna purposefully looked away. “I’m going to get some food while you two talk. I’ll be back in like twenty, alright?” Nicole felt a little flummoxed, but she nodded. Shae sent her a reassuring smile on her way out, but Nicole didn’t feel very assured. 

“Earp?” 

“Listen, I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t. While we were out, Bryce killed himself. After you were attacked, Kolker showed up first. The rental got a flat tire and I got there… too late. Kolker shot Mr. Tarbell, who shot his granddaughter. Mr. Tarbell implied that it was… that it was Alanah who was committing the violence.” 

Nicole tried to understand what the woman was saying, but none of it really made sense to her. Not after she was so sure about Bryce, after he proved how dangerous he was with Wynonna. Not after the DNA of the saliva matched the DNA of the offender who killed Layla Tarbell. 

“And do you… what? Believe it? Do you believe that a child attacked and killed a woman? Tried to kill me?” 

Earp clenched her jaw. “If Alanah was the attacker, I don’t think _she_ did it. I think the monster inside of her did. The teeth, the claws, we never found any sort of apparatus in the house that would resemble it. Bryce didn’t have a good answer to how he created those wounds. And someone attacked you and it wasn’t Bryce.” 

Nicole couldn’t argue with the last point. “But couldn’t it have been Mr. Tarbell?” 

She shrugged. “Could be. But whatever went on in that house, it wasn’t right. There was a darkness there. And I think we both sensed it. Maybe all three are involved, I don’t fucking know. I just know I should have just realized that even when Bryce was arrested, something still wasn’t right. I fucking abandoned you, Haught. And that’s what I’ll tell the FBI. I’ll be out of your hair and you’ll recover and you’ll—” 

“No,” Nicole interrupted, unable to stop herself. The memories of Wynonna begging her to stay alive, begging her to get better, and apologizing for what happened flooded her mind. “No, Earp. We share the mistake. I thought Bryce was completely guilty and I never thought I was unsafe until I was knocked out. You didn’t abandon me.” 

Wynonna let her head fall. “Haught, it’s okay, I know what I did. You don’t need to make me feel better—” 

“Earp, you know me. I would never lie to make you feel better. I’m not trying to make you feel better, I’m just telling you the truth. Which is what I’ll always do. Because that’s who I am. And the truth is, we might have both fucked up, but it wasn’t something we could have seen. And it is not your fault. I’m here because of somebody else who attacked me. And look, Earp. I’m fine. Knowing my stubbornness, I’ll probably be outta here in less than twelve hours. You have got to forgive yourself. Because I do.” 

Wynonna looked up and Nicole could see the tears in her eyes. Nicole couldn’t help but think that this was what having a partner was really like. She knew that Earp had her back. Even when the profiler was bitter about her being around, she was still loyal and protective. Despite being in the hospital, she didn’t feel vulnerable. She now knew that she had a shield and her shield's name was Wynonna Earp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	14. letting her (go?) (in?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole come to terms that maybe they don't hate one another like they previously thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi spookies! 
> 
> Here is chapter 14, a week later than normal! Hope you all enjoy it and don't hate me afterwards!

Wynonna was stunned by how accurate Nicole had been about her stubbornness. She got out of the hospital in eight hours, doing several tests to prove that her concussion was only mild. Shae also assured the doctors that Haught would be looked after by someone qualified who can help with her bandages and could take out her stitches when the time came for that. The doctors weren’t too happy with the idea of her leaving so soon, but Haught had become so cranky that they didn’t really have a choice.

Shae left a few hours earlier to get back to the hospital (Wynonna learned that Shae had a patient who suddenly wasn’t doing so well and that the doctor didn’t trust anyone else looking after her). Shae had secretly made Wynonna promise to take care of her best friend on the way back to DC, telling her that she’d beat her up if she didn’t. Not sure if Shae was joking or not (Wynonna thought it was the latter), she agreed, softly admitting to the woman that there was no way she wouldn’t take care of her until she was back at Shae’s apartment. 

Nicole acted like a curmudgeon even after they left the hospital. Wynonna hated hospitals, hadn’t slept for at least a day, hadn’t eaten in hours, and stunk, but she didn’t think she could be in a bad mood. Not with Nicole alive and getting out of the hospital (even if she was a grump). 

“Are you going to be an asshat forever, now?” Wynonna asked her as they walked into the airport, Nicole hunching over almost in pain from her cuts along her abdomen. 

“I’m in pain, Earp!” 

“Yeah, you’re a pain in my ass, for sure,” Wynonna joked, bringing a small smile to Haught’s face before it vanished as she found herself a little out of breath. “Dude, can you please let me help you?” 

Haught stopped walking and glared at her. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine the more I walk. I’m not some inva—” 

“Woah,” Wynonna interrupted, putting her hands up in surrender. “I’m not trying to say you are! I’m saying that you got hurt, courtesy of moi, and I just want to—” 

“Don’t,” Haught interrupted this time. “Don’t feel guilty. I’m serious. It doesn’t help anyone. Besides, I’m _fine._ I’m tough, remember? I survived murder.” 

“You can be tough and need help at the same time,” Wynonna grumbled, “it’s not mutually exclusive.” 

Haught raised her eyebrow. “Uh-huh. And you’re telling me that if the roles were reversed, you’d let me help you?” 

Wynonna sighed. “Well… sure. Except that, of course, I never need help. I am in most ways—especially in the sex department—superhuman. I can go into detail if you need me to.” 

Haught groaned and covered her blushing face with her hands. “If I hold onto you will you stop talking about how you’re superhuman in the bedroom?” 

“Definitely,” Wynonna said confidently. “Though, if you want, you can hold onto me _and_ listen to me talk about the special things I can do with my tongue.” 

“You’re an asshole,” Haught replied and grabbed Wynonna’s arm, putting all her weight onto the brunette. 

Wynonna grinned at her accomplishment and held her up. “I may be an asshole, but I am gifted in the sheets. God really chose the best qualities for me.” 

Nicole groaned again. “This flight back home is going to be awful, isn’t it?” 

“Well, just so you know, I will be stealing all your peanuts or crackers or whatever they serve. I haven’t eaten in, like, forever.” 

She paused and stared at her. “You haven’t eaten?” 

Wynonna just shrugged, surprised that she seemed startled. “I had other things on my mind, you know. It’s fine, seriously.” 

“It’s really not fine.” Concerned, Nicole checked her watch. “I know we’re already late, but after we get past security, let’s get sandwiches or something.” 

Not wanting to piss her off more, Wynonna agreed and let Nicole complain as they found a long line to get through security.

* * *

Her body hurt. She had pain pills she could take, but she was a little wary of taking them. She wanted to prove to herself that she was well enough to go home, even if that meant clutching her fists until they turned white. She was aware that the pain was making her intolerable to be around, but she didn’t know how to make it better. She felt even worse on the plane when she felt like she couldn’t move to ease the pain. 

She couldn’t read her book and she couldn’t watch the one episode of _Torchwood_ where her favorite character, Toshiko, fell for this hot lady alien. All she could do was curl up her fists and watch the time go by. 

Not knowing how to deal, she did the one thing she could think of that might distract her. Nicole flicked Earp, causing the brunette to pull her earbuds out. 

“What’s shakin’?” 

“Can I listen? To your music?” 

Earp raised her eyebrows but quickly tried to cover up her shock. “Oh, yeah, Totally, dude. Do you have any requests?” 

Nicole smirked. “Maybe some of that tasteless shit that you like.” 

The woman let out a soft chuckle and finger gunned at her. “You got it, Red.” 

Earp passed her the earbud and Nicole began to listen. A smile grew from her lips when she recognized the song. “Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder started to play and her muscles began to relax. It was an annoyingly catchy song that she hadn’t heard in a long time. 

“Please tell me you listen to this song ironically.” 

Wynonna grinned at her. “I will say no such thing. I listen to this song all the time. It’s perfect for all occasions.” 

Haught grimaced. “Sometimes, you worry me.” 

She snorted. “Good.” 

Nicole settled in and listened to the music, feeling an ease as she sat in comfortable silence with the profiler. As the songs started to blur together, she watched with a smile as Earp ever so slowly began to fall asleep.

* * *

Wynonna dropped Haught off at Shae’s apartment. She felt horrible about leaving the redhead there alone, but Nicole reassured her countless times that she’d be alright on her own for the few hours before her best friend came back home. Wynonna only left because she knew that Haught was in good hands with Shae. 

Returning to her own apartment and spending time away from the redhead felt a little foreign to her. After being alone for so long, she found it strange that she was already getting used to having a partner by her side. She didn’t want to overthink it. She was afraid of what would happen if she did. 

She found a man outside the door of her apartment. Knowing Doc Holliday, he probably could have gotten inside her apartment easily, but she was glad he hadn’t broken in. She was almost sure he had done it before. 

“How’d you know I was on my way back?” 

The man, who was leaning against the wall, shrugged. “How is your new partner?” 

Wynonna narrowed her eyes at him. The last thing she wanted to talk about with him was Nicole. He might have been feeding her with information, but that didn’t mean that she trusted him.

“Who do you work for?” 

He shook his head and chuckled. “You know I cannot allow you to be privy to that sort of information. Are you going to let me in?” 

She rolled her eyes. As much as she hated not knowing a thing about him, he had been helpful before. He warned her when there were going to be suits breathing down her neck. He sometimes even told her about a case where he thought she could learn something huge. She knew that he had to be in the government, she just didn’t know what he exactly did or how he knew the information he had.

“You’re already breaking the rules talking to me,” Wynonna pointed out as she entered her apartment, letting him inside by not shutting the door behind her. “Why can’t you just break the rules a little further and help a girl out?” 

He took off his strange hat and sighed. “We all need our secrets, do we not? Besides, do you want me to give you the information I have, or not?” 

Wynonna groaned and crossed her arms, hating these games that she had to play. “Whatever. Tell me.” 

“From what I can tell, Haught is not a plant or a current threat. On paper, they thought she would be a simple solution to the problem that is you. Could I be wrong? Yes. But I do not believe she is a danger to you. At least, not now. But these people… _my_ people… they have ways of convincing people to do things that they… are not naturally inclined to do.” 

She hated how fucking vague he was. “So, what are you saying? Are you telling me to drop her or keep her?” 

“Do you trust her?” He asked, raising his eyebrow with amused curiosity. 

She immediately thought _yes_ and nearly pissed her pants out of fear. 

“No. I don’t trust anyone, remember?” 

He nodded. “Good. I was worried that you were lowering your defenses for someone you hardly know. They are going to try to either convince her to write the report against you or to spy on you. You cannot trust her.” 

She despised the way the man talked about her. “I don’t think she’s going to be easily convinced to give me up.” 

“If that is truly accurate, then there are other possibilities. She could be fired, threatened until she acts against you, or she will be considered just as large a threat as you. And you know what that is like.” 

Wynonna winced. She wished more than anything that he was exaggerating, but he was telling her things she already knew in the back of her mind, things that she didn’t want to think about. Not anymore, at least. 

“So what do you suggest, Holliday?” 

“Being careful. If I were you, I would beg that boss of yours to let go of her. She can only become a liability.” 

Wynonna didn’t want to hear those words. She wanted to backtrack and pretend like she didn’t hear them. But as much as she hated them, she understood them. She despised the logic to them.

“But… what if she can be an asset?” 

Holliday grinned at her almost cheekily. “Fond of her, are you?” 

Despite herself and all of her paranoia, she did like Haught. She knew denying it wouldn’t really do her much more good. She liked that the woman was always questioning her (not because she thought she was crazy, but because she had her own theories and scientific viewpoint). She liked having someone brilliant to bounce theories off of. She liked talking cases with her, but also just talking about random shit. She liked joking around, but also arguing. With Haught, every kind of communication was easy in a way it just wasn’t with anyone else that Wynonna knew. 

“She’s tougher and stronger than you think.” 

Doc raised his eyebrows. “I never thought I would live to see the day when Wynonna Earp decided to trust someone. I am truly shocked.” 

Wynonna felt her whole body tense up. “Fuck you. I didn’t say I trust her. I’m just saying that she’s worth more than you think.” 

He shook his head. “And _you_ are lying. When she got hurt, you stayed with her the entire time. You are close with her.” 

“How do you know that?” Wynonna almost shouted, suddenly feeling the urge to throw him out and change her address so that he wouldn’t find her again. 

“Darlin’,” he said almost with a sad smile, “I can find out anything. And I have learned that her being around you will risk your mission.” 

She threw her hands up in the air instead of punching him like she wanted to. “You’re impossible, Holliday. So, you’re telling me to scrap my partner. Then what? Cause I can’t scrap my boss or the fucking FBI. So, maybe I should just quit.” 

“You do not need to get all hysterical—” 

“I’m angry!” Wynonna interrupted and gave him a shove toward the door. “You’re fucking pissing me off! You tell me to trust no one, but expect me to trust you saying that.” 

He didn’t get angry in the slightest. “Wynonna, I am here to help _you.”_

“You see, I just don’t think you’re telling the truth. Are you here just to tell me that I shouldn’t trust Haught, or is there something else?” 

“Dolls,” he began slowly, “Xavier Dolls, your boss. Despite all my investigating, I have not been able to find anything out on him. Could mean nothing. Could also mean that he is actually adequate for the job and is not out to get you. Usually, they do not just give those positions out to people who actually deserve it, but if my research is right, he does deserve it. I will still keep an ear out, but I do not think he is a threat to you right now.” 

Wynonna sighed, actually glad to know that sort of information. “Great. Are you leaving, now?” 

He frowned and walked to the door. Before he left, he turned around and said, “I might be your only hope, Earp.” 

“If that’s the truth, I might be totally fucked.” 

* * *

Resting her head on Shae’s shoulder, Nicole tried to comprehend how she had gotten to this insane moment. She was in the FBI, working with an interesting (and sometimes frustrating) profiler to investigate unexplained phenomena. She grew up thinking she would be a world-class surgeon, not getting mauled by either a psycho grandpa or a shapeshifting little girl. (She still didn’t want to think about the case too much, it hurt her head.) But somehow, the realizations that hit her the hardest were more about Wynonna and how she found herself with a partner she not only liked, but trusted. 

That first day meeting her, she thought Earp was some nut who lost it after working too many BAU cases. The woman annoyed her. Hell, the woman _still_ annoyed her. But despite how they seemed to clash in so many ways, working with her was also simple. 

Nicole always thought that finding people was hard. Sure, she could do small talk and share bio answers with a lab partner, but she was bad at the connecting part. She always had been. So when she met and connected with Shae, she thought she had to be the one. It took her a while to understand that their connection was deep friendship. 

But with Earp, it was different. In a way she didn’t really comprehend. 

She felt a pinch on her thigh. “Hey, what was that for?” 

“I literally called out your name like three times. What are you thinking about so intensely?” 

Nicole could feel herself becoming red. “Nothing, really.” 

“Uh-huh,” Shae said with obvious doubt in her voice. “Are you sure you’re not thinking about your partner? Because, uh, you did not prepare me for how gorgeous that woman is. Even with her sickly pale face and worry for you, she was still hot as hell. How do you work with her every day?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes. She wasn’t surprised that Shae found her attractive, it just frustrated her a little. “You’re hot and we worked together.” 

“Nic, we got married.” 

“So?” 

“So, I’m _saying_ that you must have noticed that your partner is like Anne Hathaway if she was, like, grungy and a mess. Ooh, Wynonna is a mix of Anne Hathaway and Jessica Jones.” 

Nicole frowned and moved an inch away from her. “I don’t get your point and I don’t know what you want me to say. We work together. The end.” 

Shae shrugged, not backing down. “I have plenty of colleagues I work with. Some for years. And not one of them would I sit with for hours upon hours without eating, sleeping, or showering.” 

Nicole hated that she was wondering about the same thing, but she wouldn’t let Shae in on those kinds of thoughts. She didn’t even want to let herself into her own thoughts. 

“She thought I was going to die. She was worried.” 

“Okay, whatever. I just think she’s fucking cool. She’s funny, she’s wicked smart, and she’s loyal to you. I’m not saying you should marry her tomorrow, but I think you should think about her.” 

Nicole shook her head, not wanting to think about Earp more than she already did (which was a lot). “You know, maybe you should date her if you like her so much. You guys seemed pretty compatible too.” 

“I would totally ask her out if I didn’t think she was totally into you,” Shae replied matter-of-factly.

Usually, Nicole loved Shae’s honesty. In this moment, she hated it. Especially since she was sure her best friend was wrong and was totally misreading the situation. She was sure she’d know if Wynonna had any feelings for her at all. 

“First of all, she isn’t into me. Second of all, if you like her that much, you should just go for it.” 

Shae rolled her eyes. “You’re getting super defensive. Listen, I’ll stop, but I just want you to think about it, alright? I just want you to be happy. And what I saw in the hospital was a version of you that’s so unguarded and so genuine. If you don’t like her, that’s fine. But I think you should let yourself feel things out, okay?” 

Nicole knew that nodding and going along would be easier in the long run, so she did. But the last thing she wanted to do was think about her feelings. They always made things so much more complicated. And the last time she let herself feel things, she got them so wrong. She never wanted to make that same mistake ever again.

* * *

_“I am so glad she’s okay and home. It must have been really scary. Finding her like that and then waiting for her to wake up in the hospital.”_

Wynonna hummed as she laid on the floor of her apartment with a bag of Takis on her stomach. She hadn’t wanted to tell her sister about what happened to Haught because she knew it would make her sister worry about her own safety, but when Waverly called her, it took her two seconds to realize something was off. And Wynonna didn’t want to lie to her. 

“Well, yeah. Don’t really want to have that experience again.” 

_“And now you know what it’s like to constantly be worrying about someone you care about.”_

Wynonna groaned, having seen this coming a mile away. “Come on, babygirl. Cut me some slack, will you? I already worry about you. Remember that freak out I had when you first went to college and I was so worried that you’d go to a frat party?” 

Waverly sighed. _“Uh, I will never forget. It was very hypocritical. You partied for, like, most of my childhood.”_

“The parties were totally different! I was hanging with pot-loving meatheads and I was already wise beyond my years. You were a doe-eyed first year who hated the taste of beer.” 

_“I still hate the taste of beer. And whatever. I understand your worry now, okay? I’m sorry you had to go through that with Nicole. I know she experienced a lot, but you probably suffered some trauma, too. Maybe you should see your therapist again.”_

“Wave—” 

_“It’s just a suggestion. I know you don’t like having help, but still. Your therapist has helped a lot in the past. Especially with—”_

“Waves, I got it. Seriously. I appreciate the sentiment, though.” Wynonna ate a Taki and tried to ignore the fact that her sister was still trying to take care of her, even though she was the baby. 

Waverly was silent for a second. _“Nicole’s lucky that you have her back, ‘Nonna.”_

Wynonna harrumphed with disbelief. “If working together hadn’t put her in danger, I wouldn’t have needed to have her back.” 

She meant it. She meant those words, but they also shocked her. She always found herself telling her sister things she hadn’t even realized herself. Just like now, with her realizing that Haught was way better off without her and X-files. She knew that even if she wanted Nicole around, it was selfish of her to keep her. 

Doc was right, and Wynonna hated it. She had a mission. While she knew that Haught would be a great asset, she knew she wouldn’t function as well if she was always worrying about her partner’s safety. And besides, she didn’t know what she’d do if Nicole got hurt again. Or worse.

_“Wynonna, she joined the FBI. You didn’t put her in danger. You were both doing your jobs.”_

That was what everyone (as in Waverly and Shae) kept telling her, but Wynonna had seen more than the others. She knew that working on these cases would always mean having a target on her back. Each case was dangerous enough, but she knew that working these cases meant having enemies everywhere. Most of them invisible. 

“Yeah,” she said softly, not wanting to argue with her. “I know. Anyway, how are your classes? How’s Rosita?” 

Waverly was quiet as if she was debating whether or not to answer or push her harder about the whole ‘guilt’ thing. _“Classes are amazing. I even stumbled across this summer program in Italy, which would be really cool. Rosita already said she’d go with me, so I think we're doing amazing. This relationship is so different, ‘Nonna. She sees me, you know?”_

Wynonna didn’t really know what it was like to be in love with someone. But she could relate a little bit. She did think that Haught saw her, flaws and all. 

Ignoring her question, she said, “So you _are_ in a relationship, huh?” 

She could hear Waverly giggle. _“Oh my gosh, yes, okay? We’re dating. Rosita Bustillos is my girlfriend. We made it official during our last date when we went ice skating...”_

Waverly kept going and Wynonna wouldn’t dare interrupt her. Listening to Waverly talk about being happy was one of the few things that kept her going. And besides, it was a good distraction instead of thinking about Haught. 

Her sister told her all about Rosita’s tragic childhood and how Waverly could relate to so many things she said. She talked about Rosita’s intelligence, her imagination, her laugh, her badassery, and her warmth. 

Wynonna didn’t know if she craved the sort of intimacy Waverly talked about or was terrified of it. Though she knew in the long run, it didn’t matter. She knew that she wasn’t made for that kind of intimacy. She came to terms with it a long time ago. 

While her sister finished talking, she put fresh clothes on. All of this talk about love made her feel restless and anxious. It made her want to drink. A lot. 

When Waverly became exhausted after talking, they said their goodbyes and Wynonna headed out. Some Dua Lipa song was blasting when she entered her normal establishment. She wanted to get a drink first, but knowing herself and the mindset she was in, she was heading into dangerous territory. Instead, she wanted to start with dancing this time. Ignoring everyone else, she moved her body to the beat of the song and closed her eyes. Like with most music, she wanted to lose herself in it and forget who she was. She wanted to soak the song in, to feel more of the song than herself. 

When she felt hands on her waist, she snapped her eyes wide open and slapped the hand away with as much force as she could muster. She was seeing red, her brain screaming _danger._

“Jesus! What the hell is wrong with you, bitch?” 

Wynonna blinked a few times and watched as the man who touched her started walking away, fuming with anger. She looked down at her hands, bitterly remembering that the part inside of her that hit him was still there, always coming out when she didn’t want it to. She hated that she could be so fearless while having that part of her that was afraid of everyone. It made her feel disjointed. Unreliable. 

“Hey? You okay?” 

Wynonna recognized the voice before the face. _The bartender._ The one who knew her drink of choice. The one with dark eyes, countless freckles, and a raspy voice. Wynonna thought she looked concerned, almost, with her eyebrows close together and her lips slightly apart. 

“Shit. Did I make a scene?” 

The bartender shook her head. “Nah, you’re fine. My shift just ended and I… I’m Karina. You wanna get out of here?” 

Wynonna raised an eyebrow, definitely not expecting that so suddenly. “Why? Do you wanna fuck or do you want to be my knight in shining armor or some shit like that?” 

The bartender snorted, not startled like Wynonna thought she would be. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to fuck, but hey, I’m down for whatever you want. Even if that means ordering a pizza and binge-watching _Schitt’s Creek.”_

“Why?” Wynonna felt like there was something that the woman wasn’t saying. She thought there had to be. 

“Why what?” 

“Why do you want to hang out?” 

The bartender sighed and licked her lips. “You come in here about once a week and you always look like you know something that everyone else in the whole place doesn’t know. Everybody else here, they’re dull. And fuck it, so am I. Do you blame me for wanting to be around someone that’s interesting?” 

Wynonna didn’t know if she wanted to give this woman the time of day, but she had to admit, she was curious. And she learned over time that curiosity could be dangerous. It led to more meetings, more nights, more opportunities for more than just sex. 

“You don’t even know my name.” 

She shrugged, not giving a fuck. “Do you know the names of the people you hook up with? Besides, I know your choice of drink. That means more than a name, don’t you think?” 

Wynonna couldn’t disagree. “Full disclosure, I don’t hang out with anyone. And if we do have sex, I’ll leave before the morning. And to top it off, I will never come back here.” 

The woman sighed. “You know, I was about to get my degree in Art History before my ex proposed and told me that we should go away together. It lasted like five months. I quit school for a girl who ended up getting arrested for making fake cash that I had no idea about. The most fucked up part is that I still love her, even if she doesn’t want me to visit her in prison. I’m not looking for commitment or even a friend. I just want a fucking distraction.” 

Wynonna found herself smiling. “Lucky for you, I also need a distraction.”

* * *

Despite having the weekend off, Nicole received an email from Section Chief Nedley, who requested having a meeting with her. Dread sat like a lump in her stomach. She could only guess that this meeting was about Earp and that he was going to interrogate her about why she hasn’t sent in her report yet. She now knew the answer to that question, but she was sure the answer wasn’t one that Nedley would like or accept. 

As she walked past the cubicles before Nedley’s office, she felt eyes on her. There were whispers all around and she thought she could even hear someone say, _“she’s under spooky's spell.”_ Nicole wanted to shake it off, but it made her feel even more worried about this meeting. She was a nobody in the FBI before she started working with Earp. People now recognized her in a bad way. 

Nedley’s assistant told her to go inside his office and she braced herself for a storm. She was ready to be chastised and scorned, but she hoped that she would still have a career. Maybe even a permanent one with Earp. 

“Agent Haught,” Nedley greeted with a stiff smile. “Glad you’re lookin’ well. When Assistant Director Dolls told me that you were hurt on the case, I was very worried. How are you feeling?” 

She decided to tell him the truth as she sat down at his desk. “I feel fine, Sir. My injuries looked worse than what it was. I’m ready to work after this weekend.” 

Nicole couldn’t tell if he was grimacing or not. “I appreciate your work ethic, Haught, but I do have to ask for that report. We don’t want anyone else to get hurt while working with Agent Earp.” 

She furrowed her eyebrows and felt the anger start to bubble up. “Excuse me? I did not get hurt _because_ of Wynonna Earp. In fact, she saved m—” 

“You don’t have to protect her, Agent,” he interrupted seriously. “You don’t owe her anything.”

Nicole felt the anger surge and she took a deep breath to control it. “I’m _not_ trying to protect her. I’m telling you that she’s a good agent, Sir. That I don’t have the answers you want.” 

He sighed and shook his head. “There have been other agents in the past who have… fallen for her dramatics, Agent. I just thought you would be more objective than this.” 

She curled her fist. “I _have_ been objective. I didn’t even like her at the beginning. But she cares about her work, Sir, and she works harder than anyone I know. She’s an advocate for victims. She’s not afraid to find answers that are terrifying. Even if I don’t always agree with her theories, that doesn’t mean we don’t work well together. In some ways, I think we keep each other in check. Isn’t that why you assigned me to work at the X-files?” 

He pursed his lips as his nose twitched. “Agent Haught, has Earp told you why she has an obsession with unexplained phenomena?” 

Nicole blinked, not understanding why this was relevant. “No, but—” 

“When Agent Earp was twelve, her sister went missing. She was convinced that her sister had been abducted by aliens. She still believes that to be the case. We hired her thinking that her stint in a hospital and juvie changed her mind. When she quit the BAU, someone else let her work X-files because of her record in the BAU thinking she just needed a break from violent crimes. This has gone on too far, Agent Haught. You have to see that.” 

Nicole felt like a bomb had dropped. The news wasn’t even that surprising (she could tell that something traumatic had happened in Earp’s life), but what startled her more was that this man was telling her. This was the kind of thing she wanted to hear from Earp, not from some man who thought that this news would make her suddenly not give a shit about her anymore. 

“Do you know what I was told in almost all of my intro science classes? My professors told me that a lot of scientists study what affects them or people they know. I know a person who studied genetics because they had sickle cell and plenty of people who studied cancers that killed their family members. There’s even a word for it. ‘Mesearch.’ That doesn’t make them any less of scientists, it makes them dedicated. Understanding. Empathetic. If you think that information made me lose my faith in Agent Earp, you don’t know me at all.” 

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her. “You surprise me, Haught. Who knew you had a backbone _and_ gave people who didn’t believe in science the time of day.” 

“She _does_ believe in science. She just believes in _more_ than science. And even if I don’t, that doesn’t mean I don’t respect her.” 

He scoffed with disbelief and almost disgust. “You’re telling me that you want to stay working with the X-files? Even if you don’t go anywhere afterward? Even if I make you write lengthy reports about every case that will be reviewed by several other agents? Even if you only last in the bureau for a few more months?”

She felt the air knock out of her lungs. Before thinking it through, she had her answer. 

“Yes.”

* * *

Karina was still lingering on her lips and hips and everywhere else. Wynonna wanted to focus on remembering the woman, even if she was never going to see her again. It was easier than what she was going to have to do. 

“Why’re you here, Earp?” 

Dolls was staring at her intensely, but not with any anger or hate like she was used to. This look was something else. Something that resembled concern, almost. It was odd. Unsettling.

“I don’t want a partner. Haught, I don’t want her anymore.”


	15. the (confusing) return of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dolls has his answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all the newbie spookies out there, here's the playlist!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=2Txku8vxQzeLp5kZurKfsA>

Dolls sat up a little straighter and blinked more times than usual. “Why? I thought you two were working well together.” 

Wynonna chewed her cheek and realized he was seeing right through her. She decided that the best thing she could do was tell him the closest thing to the truth. “I don’t want to spend all my time worrying about getting a partner hurt. It’ll waste time.”

Dolls just stared at her, his expression barely changing. “You know, it’s normal to feel some guilt about what hap—” 

“I’m a profiler, Dolls,” she interrupted with a glare. “I think I would know about my own feelings. I am making this decision because it is fucking pragmatic. I work better alone.” 

“Do you really think that’s true? Because all I have seen is good work. And, as I told you before, the higher-ups will be more likely to allow you to stay if you have a partner.” 

She hadn’t thought he would fight her on this. “Dolls, it’s not working out. Just let me work alone. It’ll be better for everyone involved.” 

He looked at her like he knew exactly what she wasn’t saying. As if he knew how she was trying to prevent her from getting hurt ever again. 

“No.” 

“The fuck?” 

“No, Earp,” he repeated with a shrug. “My answer is no. At least for now. Give it at least another case. If you come back after the next case and still ask to work alone, I’ll consider it.” He looked back down at a file, as if that was going to end the conversation. 

“Dolls—” 

“You have my answer, Earp,” he told her, not even looking at her. “That’s it.” 

Wynonna stood up, angrier than she wanted to be. She thought that she would be leaving her boss’ office with relief, but she left with rage. She was trying to be selfless, but Dolls was looking at her like she was selfish. Letting Haught go was one of the hardest things she had to do (she had to psych herself up for hours), but she did it because she knew it was the right thing to do. She thought Dolls would get that. Or at least not argue with her. 

She felt her phone buzz.  _ Nicole.  _

**Haught: Nedley tried to grill me about you, but I stayed strong ;)**

Wynonna stuffed her phone back into her pocket, feeling the sudden urge to throw her phone away so that Haught wouldn’t text her again. She didn’t want to think about Haught or how she was putting the redhead in danger just being associated with her. 

She felt fucked up. Like she fucked everything up. As she always did. 

Riding her motorcycle around the city for hours didn’t help. She knew she could find a bar or club where she could drown her sorrows in alcohol or a person, but she didn’t want to be around anyone. She didn’t want to be seen, to be heard, to be noticed. So she went home and did the only thing that felt right. The one thing that didn’t make her want to peel off her skin. 

Wynonna played “Phobia” by Nothing But Thieves and played it as loud as she possibly could without getting in trouble with her landlord. This new album was intense. Scary, almost, by how much she could relate to it. 

She grabbed all her files that she had taken home over the years and spread them out on her hardwood floors. These were all cases that were like her sister’s.  _ Willa’s.  _ None of them perfectly matched Willa’s story, but each file had some type of similarity. She would keep lists of missing people if she could, but that number was too high for her to even deal with. 

She read them all again, even though she had a lot of the files memorized. Some of the words sunk in, but most of them got lost in the shuffle of her reading and remembering that night. Remembering the night she lost her. 

Remembering shaking in her bed because her daddy had been yelling at her. 

Remembering wishing to climb into Willa’s bed, but recalling Willa telling her that she wasn’t a baby anymore. 

Remembering staring at the photograph she kept secretly of mama, who had been gone for two years. 

Remembering hearing the sound first. The distant hum that slowly turned into a rattle that seemed to shake the house. 

Remembering the light. The glow. Running to the window. Not being able to see. Too bright. Mesmerizing. 

Remembering the feeling of being stuck. Frozen. 

Remembering hearing a scream. A distinct, terrifying scream.  _ Willa.  _

Remembering running to her big sister’s room. Empty.

* * *

She felt pride. Standing up to Nedley was something that Nicole thought she could never have done before meeting Wynonna. She felt  _ good.  _ Confident. 

After texting Earp about what she had done when she got back to Shae’s apartment, she did something she hadn’t done since she was a child. She put her earbuds in and listened to “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode and danced in the living room. It was liberating just moving her body without a care in the world. 

When she got a call, she grinned, hoping that it would be Earp congratulating her. Instead, she saw a name that she didn’t think she would see ever again pop up on her phone. 

“Hello?” 

_ “Nicole? Wow, it’s crazy to hear your voice.”  _

It was jarring to hear her voice again. She sat down on the ground, a little bit in shock. “Audrey… hi. It’s been…” 

_ “What, like three years?”  _ Her cousin replied and chuckled nervously.  _ “Yeah, that’s insane. Honestly, I’m really sorry about that. You know I don’t…”  _ She trailed off, but Nicole thought she caught the gist. 

“I mean, our parents didn’t really give you the choice to keep talking to me, so.” Nicole rubbed the back of her neck, feeling slightly anxious. She hadn’t talked to a family member in so long that she didn’t remember exactly how to. 

_ “I’m really sorry about that. You know what my mom’s like. The last thing I wanted was to get on her bad side, but I also didn’t want to lose all contact with you. It’s funny, isn’t it? I’m an adult, but I still care so much about pleasing my parents. It’s insane.”  _

Out of everyone in Nicole’s family, she was the closest to Audrey, not that they were even that close. Nicole felt the most comfortable with her. Even though Audrey was the “rebel” (not that she actually did anything that rebellious other than dyeing her hair and piercing her nose) of the family, Nicole could relate to her in ways she would never tell her cousin about. It wasn’t as though they talked about anything that real, but Nicole always felt comfortable around her. That is, until Nicole told her family that she wasn’t going to become a doctor and that she was gay. 

“Why’re you calling, Aud? Is the family okay?” Nicole wouldn’t have any clue if they were. Her entire family stopped talking to her for the most part. 

_ “Everyone’s fine. It’s just that, well, I’m getting married. And… I would really like it if you came to the wedding. I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but you’re my family. And I want you to be there.”  _

Nicole looked down at her lap, not knowing how to feel about this request. On the one hand, she was still furious that her cousin stopped talking to her when she needed her the most. On the other hand, she knew that Audrey wouldn’t have stopped talking to her on her own accord. It wasn’t a good excuse, but Nicole at least understood it. She figured the lack of backbone ran in the family. 

Ignoring Audrey, though, the last thing Nicole wanted was to see her family again when she knew that they would all look at her with such disappointment. Such shame. 

“Audrey… I’m happy for you, I am, but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea—” 

_ “I would ask everyone to be on their best behavior,”  _ Audrey interrupted passionately.  _ “In fact, I would tell them that if they aren’t kind to you, I’ll ask them to leave.”  _

Nicole facepalmed. “I appreciate that, I do. But I don’t think you understand, there’s no way they would act even pleasantly toward me. They hate me, Audrey. You can’t just ask them to ignore that.” 

_ “They miss you, Nicole. Your parents, they wouldn’t admit it, but they do. Maybe it’s time to bury the hatchet, you know? Maybe they’ll even apologize. Wouldn’t it be great if you could be a part of the family again?”  _

“Audrey, I’ve had enough internalized homophobia in my life to want to experience more homophobia from my family. I’m sorry, I really am, but I just don’t think it will happen.” 

_ “Nicole—”  _

“I am so happy that you’re getting married, Aud. And it sounds like you’re doing well. But I can’t do what you’re asking me to do. I’m sorry.” 

Her cousin was quiet for a second.  _ “I am totally embarrassed by how I reacted to you... But you know better than anyone what kind of households we were raised in. I am totally okay with gay people, Nicole. In fact, if you had a partner, you could bring them to the wedding—”  _

“Audrey—” 

_ “Just think about it, okay? I’ll text you the information. Contact me if you decide to come, alright? I hope you’re doing well, Nicole. I really am. Don’t hesitate to call, alright? Talk to you later.”  _

Her cousin hung up and Nicole felt like she had just entered an alternate reality. She felt confused. Off-kilter. 

Needing the distraction, she texted Earp again, asking her if she had their next case picked out.

* * *

Hours passed and her walls were covered with photos, evidence, eyewitness statements. She knew that if anyone else saw it, they would be a little freaked out. Her therapist once told her that her obsessive tendencies were a coping mechanism, but all she remembered about the conversation was asking them how to cope with that coping mechanism. 

Deep down, she knew that maybe she was worrying about Haught too much (that she might even be overprotective for no fucking reason), that the redhead might actually be okay working on X-files, but she just kept remembering holding the dying woman in her arms. And then her thoughts would go to Willa’s bedroom being empty. It was too much for her to think about. 

She was getting a call. Her phone was in her pocket, but she thought about ignoring it. The last few texts she had gotten were from Haught and she didn’t have the emotional capacity to even think about replying to them. She just asked her boss to fire her from being her partner. Texting her would make her feel like lying and she didn’t think she could do that. 

They called again. Groaning, she checked her phone and realized that it wasn’t one of the four numbers she saved (Waverly’s, Jeremy’s, Dolls’, and Nicole’s). It took her a few seconds to even realize that she recognized the number. She answered the phone, hoping it wasn’t a telemarketer who had called her before. 

_ “Earp. You finally picked up.”  _

Wynonna almost dropped the phone, she was so startled. She hadn’t heard the woman’s voice in a  _ while.  _ She wasn’t sure if she would ever hear it again. 

“It’s been a hot minute.” 

The woman laughed.  _ “Fuck… I know. That’s probably mostly my fault. But, you know, you kinda caught me off guard with the whole ‘X-files’ thing and leaving the Unit.”  _

Wynonna rubbed her hands against her thighs and sighed. She didn’t want this conversation to get real. “I know.” 

_ “Can we, you know, pretend like it’s the old times for a second? I need your help.”  _

Needing a huge distraction from whatever the fuck she had gotten herself into with Haught, she listened. 

* * *

Nicole felt like a dumb teenager again. She had spent all of Sunday going through all of her last conversations with Earp, trying to figure out what she had done wrong. It wasn’t like she texted Earp that often before the second case, but if she did, she always got a reply. Even if it was something bizarre or curt. This time (well, four times, technically), she got nothing. Silence. It was especially weird since she thought she and Wynonna were in a good place. She actually felt like they were real partners. And maybe even friends, not that she would say it out loud. 

She had felt so stupid waiting around for a text back. She wasted her last day off when she could have been doing something fun (or at least be paying attention to an episode of  _ The Prisoner  _ instead of glancing at her phone every three seconds). She didn’t know why it had bothered her so much. It just did. 

Shae had been at work. She still didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. Shae would have noticed how lame she was being and would have said something about it, which wouldn’t have been fun, but at least Shae could have cheered her up or something. 

But at midnight, she got it. 

What she thought she was spending days waiting for. 

**Earp: airport. 9 am. meet u before security. warm.**

She looked at it for a solid seven minutes before throwing her phone back onto the couch. It was vague as hell, which wouldn’t have bothered her if she hadn’t been waiting for a text for like thirty-six hours. She had no idea what “warm” even meant, but at this point, she didn’t even want to ask. So, she didn’t. Instead, she went to sleep and tried to not think about Earp at all. 

* * *

Wynonna felt sick to her stomach. Waiting for Haught at the airport made her feel like she was waiting to be pushed off a cliff. She didn’t know how she was going to react when she was going to see Haught. It wasn’t like she could ghost her in person. 

For once, music wasn’t helping. Not even “frequent letdown” by illuminati hotties wasn’t making her feel better. She figured it was because she related too much to the music at the moment. 

She tried reading an article about postcolonial feminism. She tried to take a BuzzFeed quiz and figure out which  _ Brooklyn Nine-Nine  _ character she was most like. She tried to profile all the people who walked by. She even tried watching a compilation video of Spike moments in  _ Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  _ but then she remembered Tara dying and turned her phone off. She still hadn’t gotten over it, and at this point, she was fairly certain she was never going to. 

But then she saw the red hair and time stopped. Not literally, but Wynonna thought for a second that her heart stopped beating. She gulped and looked away. It was almost as if Haught was a bright light that it hurt to look at. 

* * *

In retrospect, Nicole knew she probably should have asked her partner what “warm” meant. When she arrived at the airport, Wynonna was sitting in a chair, wearing shorts and a shirt. More specifically, Wynonna was wearing tan shorts and a hawaiian shirt. She was even wearing a baseball cap that just had the word ‘titties’ on it. Nicole looked down at her own outfit, a basic and comfortable suit, and frowned. 

“When you said warm, you really meant…” 

“We’re going somewhere warm,” Wynonna finished and bounced up from the chair, barely looking at her. “Florida, to be exact. Let’s hit it.” 

Earp pushed past her as if they barely knew each other. It was like day one all over again and Nicole just felt like she was punched in the gut. She didn’t think that Earp would act like they were best friends, but she thought she would at least act like they weren’t strangers. 

She wondered if somehow Wynonna had found out about what she agreed to to still be her partner. All the reports she would have to send in about each case. Or maybe, she considered the possibility that she had made it all up in her head. All the progress they made, all the closeness she thought they achieved. She couldn’t help but think that she misread the whole situation. 

“Wait, Earp!” 

The brunette spun around, her eyes all wide for a second. “What?” 

Nicole bit her lip, not knowing what exactly to say. “Are you… are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Wynonna said simply with a shrug and looked down at her duffel bag. “Why?”

“I—” Nicole stopped, not having the right words. “Nothing. Nevermind.” 

They were silent all the way to the plane. Nicole felt on edge. Like something bad was either happening or going to happen. Wynonna’s attitude was unsettling. Especially after seeing her act so differently. 

Trying to find the courage to ask her partner if they were okay, Nicole listened to “Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus and read the play she brought with her,  _ The Visit.  _ She wasn’t doing that good of a job paying attention to the words on the page. She kept glancing at Earp, who had her earphones in and was tapping her fingers along her legs, mouthing the words. She couldn’t really tell what she was listening to, but at one point, she could see her mouth the words “it’s just that I fell in love with a war” and knew exactly what she was singing. 

“Earp.” She poked her arm. 

“What?” She asked without taking out her earbuds or looking at her.

“What’s the case we’re working on? Shouldn’t I know about it before we land?” 

The brunette shrugged as if she didn’t give a shit. “Honestly, Haught-mail, I can’t tell you that much. When we land, we’ll both get more information.” 

Haught furrowed her eyebrows. “You picked a case when you have no information?” 

Earp rolled her eyes. “Man, you’ve got no chill today, huh?” 

As Earp turned to look out the window, Nicole whispered, “Asshole,” under her breath. It hurt. All of it just hurt and she didn’t even want to think about what was wrong and why she felt so terrible about Earp’s behavior. 

She kept her eyes on her book until the plane landed, even though she didn’t turn a page. 

When they got off the plane, Earp looked like she was in a rush. Nicole followed silently, actually looking forward to working if it meant some kind of normalcy. She hoped that maybe then Wynonna would start looking and talking to her like she did before. Honestly, she would take just her looking and talking to her. Even if she was a dick. It was better than the silence. 

Near the exit, Earp stopped. Nicole opened her mouth to ask her what was wrong when she realized what had happened. She was looking at someone. And that person was looking back at her and grinning like she had just won the lottery. 

The blonde, who Nicole noticed was somehow even more gorgeous up close, approached them with a big smile. “Fucking hell. If it isn’t Wynonna goddamn Earp.”

Nicole looked for Wynonna’s reaction. The brunette’s reaction wasn’t the same as the blonde’s, but she could tell that the profiler was happy to see her. Though, to be fair, Nicole didn’t really know exactly what happy Earp looked like. The closest thing she could think of was when they would laugh in the car and argue about meaningless things. 

“Eliza Shapiro. Still and forever the bane of my fucking existence.”

Eliza laughed, shaking her head. “I feel like this is a typical hug moment. Should we hug? Want a hug, Earp?” 

Earp snorted. “Fuck you, Shapiro.” 

Eliza shrugged and turned to look at Nicole. “Hiya. Since Earp isn’t polite, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Eliza Shapiro, I’m in the BAU. Actually, I was Earp’s partner. Well, not  _ exactly,  _ but we got paired up on cases a lot. They probably mistook sexual tension for adequate partnership.” 

Nicole felt a little bit rattled with all this new information (especially the whole  _ sexual tension _ part). “I’m Nicole Haught. I guess I’m Earp’s new partner.” 

“For now,” Wynonna clarified, causing the breath to escape Nicole’s lungs. It took her everything to not ask her partner what she meant by that. 

“Damn.” Eliza whistled and looked back and forth between them. “And here I thought  _ we  _ had sexual tension. Alright, well, it’s nice to meet you, Haught. let’s fucking get out of here. Airports give me the creeps.” 

They followed Eliza out of the airport and Nicole fiercely tried to ignore her urge to run and hide in the bathroom. She felt so out of place. She just had the feeling that Earp didn’t want her there. And that feeling was suffocating. The only good thing was the feeling of suffocating was slightly distracting her from the fact that Eliza said they had sexual tension.

* * *

Wynonna felt strange being next to Shapiro in the car again. When she quit the BAU and severely cut ties with the Unit, she never thought she would be doing this ever again. She was okay with that. She liked Shapiro. More than she thought she would. But working cases she wanted was more important to her than spending time with someone who she could unwind with. And besides. Shapiro didn’t get the X-files. Wynonna could tell that the woman looked at her differently ever since she told her about the transfer. 

“It’s just me here, so y’all won’t run into any other Unit dicks,” Eliza explained as she drove to the FBI field office in Tallahassee. “But thanks for coming. I’m super shitty at verbal gratitude, so I’ll just say it now. This case is fucking bizarre and I called the master at solving bizarre cases.” 

Wynonna didn’t feel flattered, really. “Can’t believe your ego allowed you to call for help, Shapiro.” 

“Shut up and let me tell you about the case, idiot. So, let me give you a bit of a timeline. I was sent to small-town Koxville a week ago with the knowledge of six victims that were only just connected. The victimology is all over the place, just like the locations of the bodies. First, we’re in Koxville because two of the victims died there, but every other victim lived in a different surrounding town. Victims are all over the place with age and gender. One teenager, one in their forties, two in their sixties, and two in the eighties. All had a heart attack.” 

“Sorry,” Haught interrupted, sounding confused. “Heart attacks? In different towns? Why is that strange?” 

Eliza nodded. “That was my question, new partner. In fact, I asked my boss who the fuck connected these cases. And then he showed me the pictures of where they all had a prick on the back of their thighs.” 

“Pricks as in what?” Nicole asked her, almost frustrated. “Like inoculations?” 

“Nope,” Shapiro answered, emphasizing the ‘p’ like a pop. “Weird, huh? None of them went to any doctor or pharmacy or anything like that. None of them need any shots for any medical reason or anything like that. But guess how they’re all connected.” 

Wynonna groaned. “Are you really going to make us guess?” 

“I wasn’t, but now that you said that…” Shapiro grinned at her and for a second, Wynonna felt like they were partners again. Mercilessly flirting all the time because they never talked about anything real. 

Wynonna groaned. “Don’t keep us in suspense, asshole.” 

“Ugh, fine. All of our vics attended the same tent revival in Koxville. And better yet, all vics attended one tent. What do you all know about supposed religious healers?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment if you can!


	16. missing what was (and her)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna continues to be cold. 
> 
> Eliza adds something different to the equation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a week late! College is a lot right now! Honestly, I might have to start posting every two weeks, but hopefully I can keep up with the weekly updates! Love you Spookies! 
> 
> Here's the playlist, as always!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=DzsDA9bnRT27DYwL1geh3A>

Before Nicole could even say anything, Earp said, “Do we know about religious healers? Are you kidding? It’s as if we had never heard of Jim Jones before. Most religious healers, like Jim Jones, use actors and props to make people believe they are healing them. It’s all bullshit.” 

Nicole agreed that it was bullshit, but she was almost surprised that Earp agreed with her. She would have thought that she would have at least  _ tried  _ to believe. 

“Seriously? You don’t believe?” 

Earp sighed and didn’t even look at Haught when answering. “I mean, I think that it’s possible that someone could have healing abilities, but do I believe in evangelical tent revival healings? No.” 

“I think Earp finds religion in general to be bullshit, new partner,” Shapiro said with a shrug. 

Nicole wouldn’t know. She never heard Earp talk about religion before, which she was grateful for, happy to not tell Earp all about how deep religion ran in her roots and how she missed parts of it most days. She had a complicated relationship with God. She knew plenty of queer people who were also religious. She just hadn’t been able to reconcile her sexuality with her religion. 

“I don’t think religion is bullshit,” Wynonna argued defensively. “I think that religion can be used in bullshit ways. Like this. People who are desperate and dying go to tent revivals. Pretend healers make them think they’ve been healed. They stop taking medication, they stop going to the doctor, they don’t get the surgery. They  _ die.  _ And the grifter just takes their money knowing it’s going to kill them. That’s bullshit.” 

“Yeah, well, apparently with this guy,” Shapiro interrupted, “it’s the real deal. Supposedly.” 

Nicole watched as Wynonna glared at the blonde. “Real deal? Six of his customers died. That doesn’t sound like healing to me.” 

Shapiro shrugged. “Yeah, but they weren’t ever healed by him. They just went to the show. There have been miraculous recoveries. People only talk about Jensen McCarthy in a positive light.” 

“Who the fuck is this guy, Shapiro?” 

“I don’t know much about him. He’s fifteen with no criminal record. He lives with his parents, who also don’t have a record. They’re actually incredibly normal on paper. Except for the fact that their fifteen-year-old son is an evangelist healer earning more money than the both of them combined.” 

Nicole just shook her head, hating that people were like this. Using their religion to con others for money. But then again, she also knew she shouldn’t be surprised. 

“So why are we here?” Nicole asked the BAU agent. “Do you think that this healer is really healing his followers? Or do you think that this fifteen-year-old is killing his followers? Don’t you think that’d be bad for business?”

“Damn,” Eliza said and chuckled. “You’re straight to the point. I like it. But to answer your question, new partner, I don’t know. Do I believe that this teenager is healing people? No. But I still don’t know why so many of his followers are dead and why they all have strange needle marks.” 

Nicole had a few ideas, now that she thought about it. “Maybe they’re taking drugs this teenager gave them and it killed them.” 

“Maybe,” Shapiro said with a shrug. “No drugs came up in the toxicology report, but that could just because the drugs left the body’s system quickly. But either way, we’re going to watch him right now. Thought you would both want to see what we’re dealing with up close. Because some of the things I’ve heard about… it just can’t be real.” 

“It’s probably not,” Wynonna muttered under her breath. “What, is this kid saying he’s Christ, too? 

“I don’t know. I haven’t met anyone who really knows who he is or where he came from,” Shapiro answered with an exasperated sigh. “But his followers have nothing but good things to say about him. It’s like he’s a baby Manson.” 

“From what I’ve heard, he’s nothing like Manson,” Earp argued, her voice a little more intense than it was before. “Manson picked and chose different aspects from different religions and cults and predators to get followers. He was a loner at fifteen. So was Jim Jones. It took them years to learn how to manipulate people into following them. Somehow, I’ve got a feeling like this kid will be different than Manson and Jones.” 

Nicole looked out the window from the back seat and tried her hardest not to think about religion, because that always brought up feelings about her family.  _ Always.  _

“Shapiro, dude, what’s with your lack of music? Aren’t you going to play something? Any requests from the back?” 

At first, Nicole didn’t realize that Earp was talking to her. Honestly, she thought that the brunette had just forgotten her existence. It wasn’t like Earp was looking at her or even calling her by her name, but it was  _ something.  _ Something more than what it had been at first. 

“Um…” she muttered, her brain racing to say the right thing. “Maybe some—” 

“Don’t worry, Earp,” Shapiro interrupted and passed Wynonna her phone. “I’ve got a playlist ready. Just hook it up to the AUX and press play.” 

Nicole was glad that no one could see how hard she was blushing. She felt like an idiot, wishing that Eliza hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t like she and Earp were really sharing a moment, but it was something that Nicole didn’t want to be interrupted. 

The music started to play and Wynonna groaned. “Oh god. Shapiro, not this!” 

“What? It’s a classic!” 

“‘Bad Girls’ by M.I.A. is classic. This “Bad Girls” is just… flavorless. You have to recognize that. Compared to M.I.A. it’s just so lame.” 

Eliza just shook her head. “Fuck you, first of all. You have, like, the worst taste in music. You said that “Here With Me” by Dido is a good song.” 

“It’s the theme song of  _ Roswell.  _ It’s fucking amazing.” 

The blonde scoffed. “I should have known. I should have known that when you played that song unironically that you were an alien lover.” 

Nicole felt her whole body tense up as she watched for the profiler’s reaction. She knew now that it wasn’t a love that drove Earp toward aliens, it was hatred. Anger. It was glaringly obvious that Shapiro didn’t know why Earp needed to catch them. That she didn’t know about her sister. 

Wynonna didn’t say anything. Instead, she leaned her head against the window. Nicole bit her lip, knowing that the brunette was probably in pain but knowing she couldn’t do anything. Not just because Shapiro was there. She knew how much it’d hurt her partner if she knew that it was Nedley who told her about her sister. 

So instead of comforting her partner, Nicole thought about the song she would have picked. Knowing how much Wynonna loved Paramore, she thought she’d probably pick “Simmer” by Hayley Williams. Not the original version. The acoustic.

* * *

For the briefest of seconds, Wynonna forgot that she had to keep Haught at a distance. She even thoughtlessly asked her to pick a song. She wanted to pretend like Haught didn’t exist, but she couldn’t. She didn’t think she was capable of it. 

And then, of course, Shapiro had to make an alien comment. She knew it was coming, she just didn’t know it would happen so soon. She couldn’t blame her, really, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t care. She did. Too much. Especially coming from someone like Shapiro, one of the few people in her life that gave her a chance. 

Keeping her mind on the case was what was saving her. Uncovering a murdering quack sounded like a great distraction. 

She realized the tent was huge when they pulled up to it and there was already a large crowd of people outside of it. They were letting people in, but slowly. Wynonna grimaced at all the excitement she saw. She saw more excitement for this healing session than she had seen for the Rolling Stones concert she went to. 

“Somehow,” Wynonna said as she threw her titties hat into the vehicle as they all got out. “I just don’t think we’re going to fit in with this crowd.” 

It wasn’t like they were all rednecks. In fact, Wynonna was surprised to see a more diverse group of people than she would have expected. But they all had wide eyes. Almost childlike in their hope to either be cured or see a cure occur. She wondered how many of them really believed or just really wanted to. Sometimes the latter, she knew, was just as powerful as the former. 

“I haven’t talked to anyone yet,” Shapiro announced as they walked toward the crowd. “So no one should suspect anything.” 

Wynonna shrugged. “If they’re smart, they’ll know that something is up. I’m guessing there will be a radio system. Everyone probably has earpieces to feed the healer with information. If anyone asks, we’re all cousins and we’re visiting from North Carolina.” 

“North Carolina?” Haught asked, sounding more curious than accusatory. 

“They’ll probably think we don’t have southern accents because we’re yankees that moved to North Carolina. It’ll be more believable. At least, I hope so. Fuck. I probably shouldn’t have worn the hawaiian shirt. So many regrets.” 

“You’re being dramatic,” Shapiro said with an eye roll as they walked up to the crowd of people. “It’s not like they’ll be able to sense they gay, dude.” 

Wynonna would have known that Haught would have laughed at that. But when she glanced over to look at the redhead, she was just looking down at the ground, her red hair in her face. She felt the urge to poke her partner and ask her if she was okay, but her mouth was dry and she couldn’t find the courage to even touch her. 

“Thirty bucks per person,” Shapiro commented under her breath with a deep frown. “Highway fucking robbery.” 

“Hey,” a woman in front of them turned around and faced Haught. She was grinning from ear to ear in a way that was almost chilling. “Have you been here before? I always watch out for any newcomers.” 

Nicole shook her head. “First time.” 

“Wowee. I’m so excited for you. Seeing Jensen for the first time… it feels almost like bein’ saved again, you know? Lettin’ God into your heart. It’s the same feelin’.” 

Haught nodded stoically (Wynonna was sure something was  _ off  _ about the redhead). “Have you or someone you know been healed?” 

The woman shook her head. “No, but I’ve seen him do miracles, honey. Listen, I think everyone’s thinkin’ it. He might be… well… some people are saying he’s a prophet.” 

Wynonna felt the anger start to surge. She hated con-artists.  _ Correction. _ She hated con-artists who conned those that didn’t have the money or resources to be conned. She didn’t give much of a shit about a wealthy sixty-year-old dude who was catfished online after talking to a girl who he thought was eighteen. 

“Does he heal every time?” 

“Physically, no, but his words are very healing. He knows exactly how to reassure us about those socialists trying to take over the country. And the gays. Everyone is gay nowadays. It’s like a fad. What do you think?” 

Wynonna didn’t know how Haught kept her cool, but she did. “Honestly, I don’t think God would have an opinion about LGBTQ+ people. ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ Gay or straight, Ma’am, I don’t think it matters in the eyes of God.” 

The woman almost flinched away. She was obviously disgusted, but it didn’t seem to bother Haught in the slightest. Wynonna watched her with awe. Not only was it impressive that Haught stood up to the woman, but said it with such conviction that Wynonna almost felt herself say ‘amen.’ She hadn’t been to church since her mother left the family. She didn’t remember much about it, but she knew that Haught’s words made her feel more whole in two minutes than she ever felt in all those years she attended church. 

“You probably shouldn’t have said that,” Eliza muttered as they finally neared the entrance. “They’re going to know—” 

“Shut up, Shapiro,” Wynonna interrupted with a glare. “She’s fine. If that woman said that to me, I might have punched her. I think she handled it quite well, considering.” 

She caught Haught looking at her and for a second, Wynonna thought things were normal. She wanted it to be normal so bad. But if she was going to get Haught to either leave or write the report on her, she was going to have to be a dick. 

“Damn. Okay.” 

Wynonna felt the tension all around her as she entered the tent. It was hot as hell. If Wynonna wasn’t pretending to be a conservative Christian right now, she would have taken off her shirt. Hell, she’d probably do it at Quantico even if it was cold. She usually liked startling people. Especially Haught. 

They took their seats and Wynonna wished she wasn’t in the middle of them. Haught, who she was actively avoiding, and Shapiro, who didn’t understand her anymore. Shapiro might have liked her when she was in the BAU, but she could tell that Shapiro wasn’t looking at her the same way. Shapiro used to look at her like she was brilliant. There was none of that now. 

“Did you hear about Wallace?” A woman gossiped in the row in front of them. “He’s in recovery. I spoke to Norah yesterday. She said he’s doing better than he has been in ten years. It’s a miracle. I hope he saves someone today. I heard John Fulmer’s comin’ today. He’s been suffering for so long. It would be nice if someone could help him.”

Wynonna tried to listen in on other conversations, but she didn’t hear about anything specific enough for her to research later. She kept looking around, waiting to find people with radios or earpieces. Or, at the very least, someone jotting conversations down. She wanted to uncover the entire con. That might not have been the job she had to do, but she thought it was also crucial.

And then he came out. He looked like an average teenager. Lanky. Gross. But he was wearing all white, which made Wynonna want to throw up. The idea of purity frustrated her because she knew about the shame it made people feel. Everyone feel. 

People were screaming and crying when he got onto the stage. He put his hands up and smiled. He had fucking braces (which made her think that if he really could heal people, why couldn’t he fix his own damn teeth). She couldn’t help but think this was just another average white dude with heavy amounts of confidence. 

“Please.” He sounded like a fifteen-year-old boy. “No need to shout my name. I am one of you. Please, settle down.” When people started settling down, he started the sermon. It wasn’t very lively. For a kid with a large following, Wynonna thought he wasn’t that good at preaching. He wasn’t even that good for a fifteen-year-old. 

She could hear the occasional ‘amen,’ but there wasn’t anything fancy. At least, an hour or so passed without anything happening. But then he randomly stopped preaching and started squinting at the crowd. 

He put his pointer finger onto his temple and murmured, “Dave Gant. Dave Gant, are you here? I’m hearing your name over and over again. Dave Gant?” 

This man, multiple rows away, stood up wobbly. “Yes! I’m here!” 

Jensen grinned at him like he was the only person on the planet. “Dave, I’m here to tell you, God hears you. He knows of your pain, Dave, and he knows that this pain is not something you deserve. I think I can heal you. But I need to know about your faith in God.” 

Dave professed, “I have nothing but faith and love for God.” 

Jensen smiled. “I know you do, Dave. I know you do. Come, let us all pray. And maybe tomorrow, I will be provided with the ability to heal you.” 

Wynonna wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t healed on the spot. It was actually a genius move when she really thought about it. He could have time to prepare something that looks legit. At this point, he was practically a phony magician. She just wondered if he was a murderer, too.

* * *

She had felt so ill in that tent. So suffocated. These people not only reminded her of home, but they also reminded her of her parents, her family. The people who gave up on her when she needed them the most. She felt like someone had put a knife inside of her chest and twisted it around. 

Everything Jensen McCarthy said, she had already heard it before. Hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands. Besides the whole healing spiel, none of it was special. In fact, it was ordinary in a way that almost made it feel worse. She wished that it was bizarre. Something different than what she had been used to. 

When they left the tent, she thought she would be able to breathe again. But his words were lingering in her head and all she wanted to do was force them out. 

“He obviously has a large ego,” Earp declared as they headed back to their car. “As many white men do. Gotta say, his followers are devout. Cult devout, not so sure. Maybe a few followers would join him until the end, but his youth complicates things. Not a lot of people can look up to a fifteen-year-old boy. Prophet or not.” 

“I don’t know, Earp,” Shapiro said with a shrug. “I’m not sure how much age really matters here. I could see how this could easily become a cult.” 

Wynonna disagreed with her. Nicole could see it in her eyes. And Nicole had to agree with Wynonna. What they saw wasn’t very atypical. It didn’t scream ‘cult’ at all. 

Earp almost slammed the passenger door. “Right, but we saw an hour of it. I don’t think we should assume anything.” 

“Earp’s right,” Nicole said and cleared her throat, trying to find a steady voice. “While I don’t think I’ve been to a tent revival before, I’ve been to enough religious services in my lifetime to know that wasn’t a cult-like group of people. That was normal. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say normal, but it’s not  _ rare.”  _

They were quiet for a second. If she was next to Earp, she would have expected a look at the very least. But she didn’t get any reaction from the brunette. Instead, she heard a harrumph from the blonde. 

“You’re religious, then.” 

Nicole didn’t know how to answer that question. Before she could even say anything, Earp blurted, “You don’t have to answer that, Haught.” 

For a moment, she hoped that since the ex-profiler was sticking up for her, things meant they were getting back to what they were. But still, Earp wasn’t looking at her. Her stomach hurt. 

“I don’t mean to get all invasive,” Shapiro replied defensively, “I just want to know if her background could help us out.” 

“No, it’s fine. To answer your question, I was raised with religion. My family has very deep Christian roots. We didn’t go to things like this, in fact, I think my parents would scoff at the idea of healing someone physically. Healing someone spiritually, now that would be something they’d believe in. Honestly, I bet that’s what they think I need.” 

Earp didn’t move in the passenger seat, but Shapiro was nodding along. The blonde commented, “I bounced around to foster home to foster home, so I didn’t really experience a lot of religion. Though to be fair, if there was a religious foster family, I probably rebelled and got kicked out. I bet Earp can relate to that.” 

Haught felt the knife twist again. She got another detail of Earp’s life from someone else. Shapiro didn’t seem to notice the bomb that she dropped. She continued to talk about what happened in the tent, but Haught couldn’t pay attention. Her thoughts were just on Earp and the difficult life the brunette must have had. 

And then it hit her. She wondered if somehow, Wynonna had heard that Nedley had told her about her missing sister. Her heart raced. She didn’t know if that was what happened, but it would be at least an explanation for Earp’s strange behavior. 

“Haught?” 

Nicole was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of her name. “What? Sorry.” 

“I was just asking if you wanted lunch. There’s actually not a half-bad sandwich place around the office. Want to hit it?” 

Nicole wasn’t hungry, but she said she was anyway. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to having lunch with Earp and her ex-partner, but she couldn’t come up with any alternatives. 

The restaurant was small, but family-owned. The three of them sort of hid behind the menus (not that there was really much of a menu at all). It was awkward. Nicole didn’t know what to say or what to do with this other person around. Hell, she wasn’t sure if she and Earp would be talking with or without Shapiro around. 

“Damn, did something happen between the two of you, or do you two just not talk at all?” 

Nicole almost spit out the ginger ale she was drinking (she was sure if she and Earp were still talking, Earp would make a comment about ‘ginger’). She knew she should probably be used to bluntness with Earp, but this still caught her off guard. 

Earp rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Shapiro. Lay off, will you?” 

The blonde just shrugged unapologetically. “What? You’re an asshole, Earp, but you aren’t usually like  _ this.  _ What? Did you two fuck or something?” 

Nicole’s jaw dropped while she watched as Earp’s clenched. Nicole vehemently started to shake her head while the palms of her hands became suddenly incredibly sweaty. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of the brunette, who was glaring at her ex-partner with an intensity that was almost a little unsettling. 

“Fuck you, Shapiro. We were forced to work together, alright? Jesus, I forgot that you don’t have any boundaries.” 

Shapiro sighed and shrugged. “We were forced to work together and you weren’t like this. I was just asking. It’s not like you haven’t fucked—” 

_ “Shapiro.  _ Please shut the fuck up.” 

Nicole gulped, knowing exactly what Shapiro was referring to. Shapiro wasn’t just an ex-partner, Nicole was getting the vibes that she was also an  _ ex.  _ She almost felt nauseous. It was bad enough to be stuck with someone who didn’t want her around anymore. Being stuck with Shapiro on top of it just felt like an extra slap in the face. 

“I’m sorry,” the blonde muttered under her breath. “I just don’t understand what all the angst is for.” She turned her attention to Nicole. “Sorry, Haught. I’m an asshole, I know. I say whatever shit comes to my head sometimes and obviously, I piss people off. I think me and Earp have that in common. But anyway, I really wanna get to know you. You always want to be in the FBI?” 

Nicole didn’t exactly want to spill her guts to the blonde, but it was better than the awkwardness. “Not really. I actually got my M.D. and all of that. Definitely thought I was going to be a doctor.” 

Eliza smiled at her, her eyes shining. “Really? So what changed your mind? Let me guess… Clarice Starling?” 

She let out a soft chuckle. “Not really. Love the character, though. I don’t really know what it was. I don’t think it was an exact moment, really. It just felt off for a while. I was in this bookstore one day and this woman was doing a book signing thing and she talked about her experience in the bureau and… I don’t know. It wasn’t an immediate decision, but that’s when it started to dawn on me that I could do something different with my life, you know?” 

Eliza nodded. “Honestly, I get that a lot. Can you believe I majored in geology in college? Luckily, I also majored in psych, which was when I was introduced to profiling in graduate school. I read John Douglas’ books so quickly. When I was done, I knew that I wanted to catch serial offenders. The life of a profiler is pretty shitty one, but at the same time, I can’t imagine doing anything else.” 

Nicole would have felt the same way about working on x-files cases if it weren’t for the fact that Earp seemed to no longer like her. She sunk into her seat and stared down at her drink. For the first time since she started working with Wynonna Earp, she wondered if she made a mistake by not becoming a doctor. 


	17. just hide it (the feelings)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna and Nicole do more investigating (on the case, and maybe each other).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spookies! Here's the playlist, as always!
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=GYnv04KuS-iDZiVLSQHipg>

Lunch was more than awkward. Though, to be fair, Wynonna knew she was probably the source of most of the awkwardness. She felt like she didn’t know how to act like a normal person anymore. She was trying so hard to act like the person she was before she let Haught at least somewhat in that she ended up saying nothing at all. It was fucked up, she knew, but she didn’t know what else to do. 

When they made it to the field office that Shapiro had been working out of, Wynonna felt a resemblance of relief. She just wanted to focus on the case. She thought that if she was thinking about the case, she would at the very least stop thinking about Haught all the time. 

“It’s not a lot,” Shapiro announced as she opened the door to the office she was working in, “but it’s what we got.” 

The room reminded Wynonna of her time in the BAU. A lot of it was working out of field offices around the country. Small offices, shitty coffee, no sleep. It wasn’t really different than what she was doing now, except she could now investigate cases she wanted to investigate. Though, with her pushing Haught away for her own good, she was sure she wouldn’t be doing it for much longer. At least, not with a badge. 

There were whiteboards covered with information all around the room and piles of files on the round table. There was a picture of each victim and their general information on the whiteboards. Wynonna stared at the photos, wanting to familiarize herself with all of their faces and names. They were what she needed her entire attention to be on. 

“New partner,” Eliza shouted and passed the redhead a bunch of files. “Here are the medical reports. Unfortunately, all of the victims have already been buried or cremated, so you won’t actually get to see them in person. Unless, of course, there’s another…” She trailed off, but Wynonna knew what she wanted to say. Everyone in the BAU was like that. Always secretly hoping for another victim to get more evidence. Wynonna knew how easy it was to fall into that line of thinking and despised it. 

They all sat down at the table and started to go through the files. Wynonna tried to focus on memorizing all the details of the victims. None of them had very detailed files, though. No criminal record, no history of drug or alcohol abuse, no long periods of unemployment. On all accounts, they seemed like they were all living low risk lifestyles. 

Distracted for the briefest of seconds, Wynonna watched as Haught was flipping through the pages as the redhead furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her nose. It almost brought a smile to her face, but then she caught Shapiro staring at her. The blonde raised her eyebrows and then grinned. 

“Hey, new partner,” Eliza said with a wicked smile, “I’m going to show Earp to the vending machine. You want anything?” Wynonna glared at her, but she ignored it. 

Nicole looked up from her case files and glanced back and forth between Wynonna and Shapiro. “No, I’m good.” 

Shapiro practically grabbed Wynonna’s hand and almost dragged her out of the office. When she pulled her into this empty random office, Shapiro started shaking her head at her and laughed. 

“What the fuck—” 

“You’re  _ into  _ her, Earp!” Eliza shouted with a giant grin. “And I mean you’re actually into her. You  _ like  _ her. Holy shit, I never thought there’d be a day where you actually fell for someone.” 

Wynonna glared at her, doing her best to ignore every single word that just came out of her mouth. “You dragged me here to interrogate me about my non-existent feelings?” 

Shapiro, never afraid of Wynonna’s harsh tone like almost everyone else was, put her hands on her hips. “Don’t do that. Despite how unhappy you are with me right now, I do know you, Earp. I know you. It’s not just sex from her that you want, is it? You don’t look at her the same way that you looked at me.” 

“Shapiro—” 

“She’s cute, I’ll give that to you,” the blonde commented with a shrug, like she didn’t give a shit. “I never thought you’d fall for the religious girl next door type, but hey—” 

Wanting to get the blonde to stop talking about the redhead as if she knew her at all, Wynonna pushed Shapiro up against the wall. They had been in this position before. Several times when they were partnered together. She kissed her. Their teeth clashed. 

“So, you’re jealous,” Wynonna whispered between harsh kisses, her body pressed up against Eliza’s. “Is that what you’re saying? You’re jealous I have a new partner?” 

Eliza stopped the kiss and pushed her away. “You know that’s  _ not  _ what I’m saying at all. You know that I wanted you to look at me in the way that you look at her. But you don’t. You never will. I get that. I’m long over that.” 

Wynonna twitched. Deep down, deeper down than she ever wanted to search, she knew that Eliza wanted more than what she was giving her when they were partners. Hell, maybe there was even some strange part of her that wanted to be wanted. But she never tried to want her the same way. She was always too afraid to want more. 

Haught, though? She buried those thoughts even deeper. So deep she didn’t even know if she could ever dig them out. 

“What is it, then? Huh? Because I don’t  _ want  _ her, Shapiro.” 

“You might not want to want her, Earp,” Shapiro said in a softer voice. A gentle one. “But I don’t think you can really choose that kind of thing, you know? You shouldn’t push her away. I think she sees you, Earp.” 

Wynonna scoffed. “Yeah, well, at least she doesn’t think I’m crazy.” 

Eliza gulped and crossed her arms. “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think you’re brilliant. I just don’t know why you’re wasting your brilliance on… this project of yours.” 

“It’s not just a project!” Wynonna argued passionately. “It’s my  _ life,  _ Eliza! It’s my fucking life.” 

Shapiro shook her head slowly. “I know. I just don’t understand it. I’m so sorry. I want to, I just… I don’t get it, Earp.” 

Wynonna nodded, trying to let the tension ease between them. She knew that Shapiro didn’t understand. And as much as she hated that fact, she knew there was probably nothing she could do to change her mind. She was just glad that she finally got an answer out of her/

“I know. I know. Let’s just go back, alright?” 

Shapiro nodded and attempted a smile. Things weren’t suddenly back to what they were between them, but Wynonna was just glad Shapiro’s opinion about her current job was all out in the open. She just wanted to stuff Eliza’s opinions about her and Haught down into a box and burn it. 

* * *

Nicole was imagining what they were doing. Over and over again. She knew that they must have been doing something other than grabbing food from the vending machine. It was taking too long for it to have just been that. But when they got back, they didn’t look flustered or embarrassed or showed any emotion that Nicole was sure she would be feeling if she made out with a colleague secretly, not that she ever had thoughts about doing that. 

She guessed that maybe they hadn’t made out, but she couldn’t let go of the nagging feeling that’s what they had been doing. She didn’t know why she cared so much. She figured she hated how unprofessional the idea was to her. 

“Anything jump out at you in those files, new partner?” 

Nicole did a double-take before remembering that she did actually have something that she wanted to say. “The marks on the bodies are strange. They’re bigger than what would be caused by a standard needle, but I don’t know what it could be from. It’s odd to me that they took a swab and a sample of the skin to analyze around and inside the mark and that they didn’t find anything.” 

Earp frowned. “So, what do you think? Did someone pull a Sarah Manning from  _ Orphan Black  _ and stab each person with a pencil or something like that?” 

She shook her head, though enjoyed the reference. “I don’t think so. It had to be something extremely clean. It’s almost as if…” she trailed off, not liking where she was heading. “But that wouldn’t make sense.” 

“What wouldn’t make sense?” Earp asked her curiously, as if she gave a shit about her opinion again. 

She shrugged, not really wanting to say it. “It’s almost like instead of injecting them with something, someone just jabbed them. Could even be that this instrument took part of the skin and blood with. I’m not sure.” 

Earp’s blue eyes found hers. “But that wouldn’t account for the deaths, would it?” 

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t. But if there’s a serial killer somehow killing them in a different way…” 

“Could be a souvenir,” Wynonna finished and nodded. “Great. There are plenty of killers that take parts of the human body as souvenirs, but such a small sliver of skin? On a place that isn’t remotely sexual? That’s odd, right, Shapiro?” 

“Fucking odd,” Eliza told her in agreement. “But this whole situation is weird. I mean, just think about it. Someone is killing all these people who have attended this tent revival. That would seem extremely specific, but the victim type couldn’t be more broad.” 

“Maybe the victim type doesn’t matter,” Nicole offered to the profilers. “Maybe this killer is killing because of the fact that they’re believers. Maybe the killer wants that sliver of belief for themselves.” 

At the same time, both Shapiro and Wynonna turned to look at her. The blonde was grinning while the brunette was just looking at her in this strange way that Nicole wasn’t sure if she had ever seen before. 

“Wow, new partner,” Shapiro said and whistled. “You sure you don’t want to be a profiler? You sure got the brains for it.” 

Nicole smiled at her gratefully, but her attention was solely on Earp who suddenly looked away. “The BAU would be lucky to have her.” 

She didn’t know what that meant. It was a compliment, but it also appeared like Earp wanted her to be in the BAU, which would mean not working x-files. It made her frustrated, if anything. If Earp thought that the BAU would be lucky to have her, why didn’t Wynonna want her around anymore? 

“Alright, Haught’s got me thinking,” Shapiro announced with a big sigh, “we should go talk to the families of the victims. I’ve already talked to them, but we should all go as a group. If new partner is on the right track, maybe we have to learn more about their beliefs and who might be interested in these beliefs. What do you both think?” 

Haught didn’t want to talk to the victims’ families, but she knew it was what they had to do. “Yeah, let’s do it.” 

“Which family do you want to start with?” Earp asked her.

“We should start at the beginning. Six months ago, Lance Tierney, forty-three, was found dead by his wife in the morning. He died in his sleep, supposedly, by heart attack. His wife, Shelby, was really open to talking to me last time. You see, a lot of the younger victims’ families are more willing to think that something other than a heart attack might have happened to their loved ones.”

* * *

Wynonna ignored Shapiro’s playlist. She refused to listen to any more of her crap. Instead, she hooked her phone up to the AUX cord and she decided to play “Hide” by Rainbow Kitten Surprise. She didn’t know why, but she felt the sudden need to play it.

“You know, I used to play this song on constant repeat when the album came out,” Haught said from the back of the car. 

Wynonna wanted to tell her that she did too. That when she first heard the song, she felt understood. It always comforted her. 

“Oh god, do you two have the same taste in music?” Shapiro asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. “That’s so gross.” 

Before Wynonna could even say anything, Haught said, “We don’t have the same taste in music. It’s just that sometimes Earp listens to a few good songs that happen to be the songs I like.” 

Wynonna couldn’t stop the scoff. “Are you kidding me? Are you trying to say that the only good songs I listen to are the ones you like?” 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” 

Wynonna felt her mouth twist into a smile. She tried her hardest to stop herself, to tell herself that she wasn’t amused, to feel nothing. It wasn’t working. Hell, it hadn’t been working at all. No matter how hard she tried. For some reason, she felt like her fondness for the redhead was deep inside of her. Unrelenting. 

Focusing her attention on the titties hat that she was gripping tightly with her fingers, she asked Shapiro, “So, is there anything we need to know about the family before we go in?” 

“I mean, not really,” Eliza answered with a simple shrug. “They were really forthcoming about everything. Even about going to see Jensen.” 

They pulled into the driveway of one of the cutest homes that Wynonna had ever seen. It looked so bright, so joyful. There were toys scattered in the front lawn. It looked like the kind of home she would have wanted as a kid. The kind of home every kid deserved. 

Shapiro took charge of the interview and Wynonna was almost glad. These situations were never easy, but this situation was particularly harder since Wynonna knew what it was like firsthand to have parents and then lose them. 

“Hi, Shelby,” Shapiro said warmly, smiling at the widow, who looked just lost (almost like she didn’t know where she was). “So sorry about this again. These are my colleagues Agent Haught and Agent Earp. Can we come inside?” 

Shelby turned to look at them and frowned. “More agents? Does this mean… does this mean that my Lance was really murdered?” 

“We still aren’t completely sure about that, Ma’am. We’re trying to connect all the dots right now. We have some questions about the tent revival that you visited the day before your husband passed.” 

Shelby nodded and stepped aside so that they could enter the house. The children were sitting at the table, coloring quietly. One of the kids almost looked like Waverly. Her chest hurt. 

“We’ll try to make this quick, Shelby,” Eliza told her as the four of them sat on the two couches. “Can you tell me what exactly happened at the tent revival? Try to be as detailed as possible.” 

Shelby looked down at her hands. Her  _ rings.  _ “It happened six months ago, so some of the details are fuzzy, but Lance and I, we heard about the kid, Jensen McCarthy, in the grocery store of all places. We t-thought that it would be fun, you know? The kid promised he could heal people. Though, I’m not sure if he healed anyone before the day we went. I—” 

“Wait,” Wynonna interrupted, not able to get over that detail. “You’re saying that Jensen not only healed someone on the day you went, but that you think it was the first time he healed someone?” 

Shelby nodded. “I believe so, yes. At least, that was what I heard. But the healing… that was… like nothing I had ever seen before.” 

“What happened?” Shapiro asked. 

“He was just preaching when in the middle, he just stopped and shouted the name of Gerald Nolan. Gerald Nolan had cancer, you see, I don’t know of what kind. But he was about my husband’s age and he couldn’t walk. He was in a wheelchair and on the brink of death, I heard. But Jensen put his hands on him. His head, his chest, his arms, everywhere. I think he might have been speaking tongues at the time. But when he was done, Gerald could stand up and walk like he was healthy again. It was a miracle. Beautiful, really. Everyone celebrated as he then continued on with his sermon. The whole thing seemed very real to me.” 

Wynonna wasn’t as sure. She knew in a lot of cases, “healers” would use actors and pretend to heal already healthy people. “Did you know this Gerald Nolan at all before the healing?” 

Shelby nodded. “Not personally, really. But I saw him around town and I still do. Since then, he’s been up and about. Living like he’s completely healthy.” 

Wynonna was sure that Shelby really believed that, but she wasn’t as sure. She knew that after these interviews, they would probably have to pay the “healed” people a visit. 

“Did anyone interact with you and your husband? Jensen or any of his family or disciples if he has any?” 

Shelby shook her head. “Not really. We had small conversations with the people around us. We never spoke with Jensen. Honestly, I was a little scared of him.” 

“Why’s that?” Wynonna asked her. 

She shrugged. “If he had the power to heal, surely he must have other power. I never thought someone should mess with such a thing.” 

“Do you consider yourself to be very religious?” 

“Not as religious as most of the people there. We cared more about the community than the religion, if that makes sense. It’s a good environment, especially for the kids. But no, I wouldn’t consider ourselves very religious at all.” 

That sort of debunked the theory that they had at the present. 

“Do you remember eating any food or drink?” At the shake of Shelby’s head, she then continued, “Did your husband ever tell you about any pain on the back of his thigh? At the service or after?” 

Shelby narrowed her eyes at her. “No, I don’t believe so. Other than the healing, it was an extremely normal service. Honestly. It seemed like a very normal day. I would have never guessed—” She choked back a sob. “I would have never g-guessed it would have been the last day that my husband was on this planet.” 

Shapiro hugged the woman who sobbed on her shoulder. Wynonna felt uneasy. All she knew was that they needed to talk to a lot more grieving people. And at some point, they’d have to talk to Jensen himself. If, of course, this really had to do with him at all. She just hoped that the tent revival just wasn’t some giant red herring.

* * *

Jumping from family to family was exhausting. Nicole was hoping before they started talking to them that they would learn something about the victims that would easily connect them in a way other than the fact that they all attended the tent revival. All the victims varied in how religious they were. In fact, the teenager that died wasn’t religious at all. His mother explained that he wanted to capture a video of a healing session to put up on YouTube, though when he went, he was immediately caught and was told to put his phone away. Not only that, the deaths varied in other ways. While some people died the day after the revival, some people died multiple days after. 

Only one thing was really consistent. Jensen performed his healing abilities for each session that each of the victims attended. Nicole thought that was probably a coincidence, especially since she was sure that Jensen probably did hundreds of them. She had heard of “healers” who would heal or revive multiple people during each sermon. 

The last person they talked to was the daughter of the most recent victim, who died at age eighty-one, which wasn’t a strange age to die from a heart attack. The daughter seemed annoyed that they were there. Like they were wasting her time.

“My father did not have a healthy lifestyle. He really only ate burgers and fries when my mom died. He had doctors that warned him, but he didn’t listen. I don’t know why you all think that there’s… some funny business going on. My father was old and unhealthy and he had a heart attack.”

Shapiro nodded, remaining absolutely calm. “I know that, but you see, your father was lumped into a bunch of other cases we’re working on. We have to check it out. I’m sorry.” 

The middle-aged woman shrugged angrily. “Whatever. I don’t know what to tell you. We went to see that kid you were asking about. And Lord be, he really did heal someone. I didn’t believe he would do it, you know? The kid had been around for like half a year and he had only healed five people up to that point.” 

Nicole watched as Wynonna’s eyes widened. “Wait, so you’re telling me that Jensen McCarthy only healed five people before the day you went? So when you went, he healed the sixth person?” 

She nodded, still perturbed. “Honestly, I think he’s only healed six people. Guess God is choosy about when he can have his ability. I can give you a list of the six people, if you want. I know everyone ‘round here.” 

Nicole and Wynonna’s eyes locked. The brunette didn’t need to say anything. Nicole knew what she noticed.  _ The only times that Jensen McCarthy healed someone were the days that the six victims attended the revival.  _ She didn’t know what that meant, but at least there was a connection of some sort. 

Eliza asked the woman a few more questions, but Nicole’s attention was only on Earp, who was obviously already trying to get her mind around the new information. She wanted to know what was going on in her mind. The theories she was inevitably creating. She could imagine getting lost in Wynonna’s mind. Hell, she thought maybe she wanted to. 

Before she knew it, Shapiro was thanking the woman for talking to them. Nicole thought time just froze when her eyes were on Earp, but instead, time seemed to go faster than ever. She just hoped Earp couldn’t feel her eyes on her. 

They left the house and Nicole noticed an obvious change in Earp’s steps. She walked with determination. It was almost as if she now knew she had a destination in mind, an end goal.

“Two things,” Earp said when they got into the car. “One, we need to go see Jensen again tomorrow. And two, I want to learn more about the people who were healed.” 

Shapiro furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you thinking?” 

“Six people who were dying were healed while six other at least mostly healthy people died. It’s fucking curious, isn’t it?”

Nicole didn’t know what her theory was, but she knew that Wynonna was right about one thing. It was definitely curious, whatever was happening. And at this point, Nicole didn’t know if she could call it a coincidence, even if the skeptic in her wanted to.

Earp played “Shakedown Street” by the Grateful Dead and turned it up louder and louder. Nicole hadn’t heard the song in many years, but for some reason, she felt like she knew almost all the lyrics.


	18. a (quiet) interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A closer insight on Wynonna and Nicole's thoughts and their pasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the playlist, as always:
> 
> <https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BBPKFf8yaqNL13ZP3U8tv?si=Rvj0Or2hQ4eeTWhXmx5DrQ>

It was uncanny how close the ages were. The six victims were almost the same exact age as those six that were healed. Wynonna was sure that it couldn’t be just a coincidence. Maybe if it happened once, it could be considered one. But all six? There was no way that they weren’t connected. 

“It’s like the deaths created a balance, you know?” Wynonna pondered out loud, trying to make sense of all this new information. 

Shapiro stared at her like she was talking in a different language. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

“Six people were healed. Right after those six people were each healed, six people, the same age as those who were healed, died. A life for a life.” 

Eliza just raised an eyebrow. “What are you saying? That this is like witchcraft or some shit?” 

Wynonna shrugged, not having gotten that far yet in her thought process. “I’m not  _ not  _ saying it’s witchcraft. Could be, though. I wouldn’t count anything out at this point.” 

Shapiro turned around to face Haught, who was still staring down at the case files, like she couldn’t believe the information they just learned. “Do you believe this? Do you think it could be witchcraft?” 

Haught looked up (yet avoided Wynonna’s eyes) and sighed. “If that’s her theory, it’s her theory. But I would just like to remind everyone that we haven’t actually met someone who was healed. The healing could still be a con. Because if we’re supposed to believe that these people were healed, then that means that McCarthy is a healer. Which was something we all thought would be highly improbable.” 

Wynonna had to agree. “You’re right. We need to talk to people who were healed and see if they’re legit or not.” 

Shapiro nodded, not disagreeing with the plan so far. “Fine, but not tonight. It’s already almost 8:00. I say we get some dinner and then head to the hotel.” 

Wynonna checked her phone, surprised by how late it already was. She hadn’t even realized she was hungry. “Yeah, yeah, I guess we should probably get going. Any recs for dinner?” 

“How’s pizza?” 

Pizza sounded heavenly to her, though at this point, she probably wouldn’t have argued with anything Shapiro picked. She wanted to put all of her thoughts and attention on the victims. This case was becoming more complex with every new piece of information they got. She actually thought it would have been a pretty good x-file, all things considered. 

She played “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead when they got into the car. She wasn’t in the mood to talk. For once, she wanted to live in her head and think through her theories. Witchcraft, though Shapiro scoffed at the idea, was actually a pretty decent theory. While she hadn’t seen anyone perform any magic, she had heard enough anecdotes to believe that it was theoretically possible. She also couldn’t ignore the fact that the idea of magic had been around for centuries and in hundreds of cultures. She figured there must be a nugget of truth in there somewhere. 

They decided not to eat at the pizza place, which Wynonna was thankful for. She just wanted a night in. Maybe watch some shitty TV if she felt like it to decompress and think everything through. At least she now had something new to think about. Not Haught, for once. 

But when they got to the hotel, Wynonna’s hopes for the night got shattered. Shapiro revealed to them that she had booked only one room for both Wynonna and Haught. Wynonna felt almost nauseous. She had spent so much effort avoiding and distancing herself from Haught that this felt like a sick joke. 

“They only had one room available,” Shapiro explained when both Wynonna and Haught groaned. “I’m sorry. I’m happy to share if one of you doesn’t want to.” 

Wynonna didn’t know which idea was worse. Being stuck in a hotel room with her ex-something or being stuck in a room with a woman she didn’t want to think about anymore. But even worse than being in a room with someone she didn’t want to think about was being in a room with someone who would inevitably interrogate her about why she kept ignoring Haught. 

She grabbed the key card from the blonde’s hand and muttered, “It’s fine. See you in the morning, then, Shapiro?” 

The blonde looked between the two of them and nodded. “If you all need me, I’m two doors down.” 

That didn’t reassure Wynonna in the slightest. As she opened the door to the hotel room, she murmured, “Sorry about this,” to her partner. 

“Well,” Haught grunted, “honestly, this just fits in with all the other shit that’s been happening, so.” 

Wynonna almost dropped her bags on the floor. She had seen Haught angry before. But this seemed to be a little more than that. Not that she could really blame her. She knew that she was acting really hot and cold (depending on how hard she was trying to avoid her) and that it was confusing the redhead.

She didn’t know what to say. She could just ignore Haught’s comment and move on, but there was such a huge part of her that just wanted to fucking apologize and stop acting like she didn’t care about her. Because she  _ did  _ care about her. It was becoming obvious to her that her problem was that she cared too much. And that she couldn’t stop those feelings. No matter how hard she tried to. 

“Haught—” 

“Don’t,” the redhead interrupted as she took off her shoes, not looking at her. “Honestly, Earp, I don’t really want to hear it. One second, you act like I’m fucking worthless, and in the next, you act like… like you get me. I’m just so tired, alright? Let’s just turn the TV on and eat the fucking pizza in silence.” 

Wynonna couldn’t help but gape at her. Instead of saying anything, she just stood there and watched as Haught took her pants and blazer off, cursing to herself about the heat. Just in her undershirt and underwear, she grabbed the pizza box and sat on the bed, scrolling through the channels on the television. She ended up picking  _ Whose Line is it Anyway?  _

“God, I love Aisha Tyler,” Nicole stated as she stuffed a slice of pizza in her mouth. 

She felt awful just standing there, but she didn’t know what else to do. She had never seen her act like this before. If she didn’t know Haught was so mad, this scene would honestly be cute. Haught lazily eating pizza while watching silly shows wasn’t the problem. She could tell that Haught was in pain. Pain that she caused. 

She wanted to blurt it out. Tell her why she had been acting like such an idiot. She even opened her mouth, waiting for the words to come out. But they didn’t. 

So she walked over to the bed and took off her shoes before sitting on it, as far away from Haught as possible. She looked at the TV but she couldn’t hear one word. She was suddenly not hungry at all.

* * *

She thought about calling Shae, but the idea of having to actually talk about how she felt made her want to throw up. Besides, she was sure that if she told Shae what was going on, Shae would ask her a whole bunch of intrusive questions that would make her think about things she didn’t want to think about. And she would also probably call Wynonna and yell at her. And the last thing she needed was someone else trying to fight her own battles. 

So she sat and ate pizza. She knew that Earp was sitting on the bed with her, but she didn’t look at her after she blew up at her. She didn’t understand how Earp could make her feel so insignificant for hours and then treat her like partners again when the case started becoming more interesting. It wasn’t fucking fair. And she wasn’t going to pretend like everything was okay. 

Nicole wouldn’t consider her own behavior to be concerning. Or maybe it was. She didn’t know. It reminded her of her teenage years as she hid out in her bedroom, trying to get lost in different worlds. Books, movies, shows. Anything where she didn’t feel like she had to be herself for a few minutes. She thought that as coping mechanisms go, it wasn’t the worst one to have. 

She once told Shae about how she would do this almost ritually, especially on Sundays, and Shae replied by asking her if she ever gave a thought about her religious trauma. Nicole remembered getting really worked up and really angry at her for suggesting it. But now she couldn’t stop thinking about it. That is, when she wasn’t thinking about Earp. 

She didn’t blame religion, her church, or her family for her depression as a kid. She always blamed herself for not feeling like she belonged. Not the homophobia, but the  _ internalized _ homophobia. For the longest time, she thought  _ she  _ was the problem for not fitting into heteronormative gender roles.

Nicole knew she must have been thinking about it unconsciously for a while (hell, her favorite artist was Julien Baker for a reason), but when Shae asked her that question, it caught her off guard. When she stopped going to church, she just wanted to forget about it. Forget religion, forget her parents, forget how believing in God made her feel comforted and alone at the same time. She didn’t want to think about all the good things about religion and believing in something greater than herself. She didn’t want to think about the ways she was damaged by religion and the patriarchal heteronormative stereotypes forced upon her. So instead, she yelled at her wife at the time and turned on a television show. 

But this time, her coping mechanism wasn’t working. While  _ Whose Line Is It Anyway?  _ was a fantastic show, she didn’t feel distracted. She still kept thinking about everything. Thinking so hard that it hurt. 

“I’m taking a shower,” she announced to the brunette in the room, still without looking at her. She got up from the bed and grabbed some PJs from her bag before locking herself in the bathroom. 

She turned the water up as hot as it went before stepping into the shower. It burned her skin, but only for a second. She just wanted to feel clean.

* * *

Earbuds in and listening to “Merry Go Round” by The Equatics, Wynonna changed into her Joan Jett shirt and boxers. Despite it being early and that she had suffered from insomnia for as long as she could remember, she begged whoever was listening to let her fall asleep quickly. She just wanted this night to end. 

Hugging the corner of the bed, she closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would just come like it did for so many. Effortlessly. 

She heard the bathroom door open. After a few minutes, she felt the bed move. Haught had gotten into it and turned the light off. Wynonna turned the music up louder as to not listen to every sound that Haught made. She was just glad when the redhead started to snore softly. Somehow knowing that the redhead could sleep made her feel more settled and calm.

“I’m sorry,” Wynonna whispered as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake her up. She didn’t know what compelled her to tell the truth when the other woman was asleep, but once she started talking, she didn’t think she could stop. 

“You don’t deserve this shit. My shit. Fuck it, I could lie and say that I don’t want you around because you deserve better, which you do, but I know that’s just something I’m telling myself. Because it’s easier than admitting that I’m terrified of losing you. I know I’m a target. I don’t want you to be one, too. Losing my job or having you work somewhere else is nothing compared to losing you. Maybe I’m going the wrong fucking way about this, but I don’t know what else to do.” 

She wiped away the burning tears and stuffed her head further into the pillow. She thought it would make her feel better. And maybe it did a little. But mostly, it just reminded her of all the shit going on in her head. 

It made her think of her mom. 

_ “Love, baby, it makes you do crazy things. Sometimes, those things aren’t good things. Sometimes, you even destroy yourself because of it. Or destroy the other person. That’s what you risk for love. Losin’ everythin’.”  _

Her mother was everything to her as a kid. Compared to her father, her mom was her guardian angel and sanctuary rolled into one. Always holding her close. Always protecting her from daddy’s temper and insatiable desire for destruction. She took all her mother’s words as gospel. 

And then she left. 

Left her three kids with a man who struggled to have a heart even when he was sober. Wynonna had wondered if that meant her mother didn’t love her. Because she knew that if her mother loved her and her siblings, she should have taken that risk of running away with them, not from them. 

She was older, now, and realized that things were probably more complicated than she ever saw as a kid. She knew that her mother was a victim and did what she did to survive. That didn’t mean that she didn’t ache at the thought of how different everything would have been if her mom took them with her. 

Maybe the violence wouldn’t have gotten worse. Maybe Willa wouldn’t have been taken. Maybe she wouldn’t have pulled the trigger. 

She shivered suddenly, feeling cold under the sheets and in the blistering heat of Florida.

* * *

Nicole woke up at the sound of her alarm. She got up slowly and realized that Earp was already in the shower. A little relieved that she didn’t have to face the brunette, she checked her messages from Shae. 

**Shae: how’s Wynonna?**

**Shae: how’s the case?**

**Shae: did you tell her about what you did to stay in the x-files? Is she completely in love with you for it?**

**Shae: ok be a dramatic bitch and don’t reply to me I guess**

Nicole didn’t know what to say. She wanted to be as vague as possible, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to tell the truth, either. 

**Nicole: it’s all fine! Sorry, busy day!**

After she sent the text, she thought she heard the water stop in the bathroom. If things were back to normal, she thought that Wynonna would walk out either naked or in a really small towel just to mess with her. Nicole knew she would roll her eyes and scoff at the scene, but smile when she wasn’t looking. But she knew that wouldn’t happen, now. 

And she was right. 

Five minutes later, Earp came out of the bathroom fully clothed. She was wearing shorts and a Tom Petty shirt. She looked at Nicole for a second, their eyes locked. For a moment, Nicole was sure she was going to say something. But then she broke eye contact and stuffed her clothes into her duffel bag. 

“Shapiro texted and said she’d bring by breakfast in a few. The bathroom’s open.” 

Nicole was almost sure that Wynonna wanted to say something else, but the brunette turned her attention to a case file. Disappointed, Nicole got ready in the bathroom as quickly as she could, not wanting to miss a moment when Shapiro got there. 

When Eliza entered their hotel room with three bagels and a list of addresses for the people that Jensen McCarthy had supposedly healed, Nicole felt slightly better now that she could communicate with someone. 

As they all sat on the bed and ate the toasted bagels, Shapiro asked them what they did last night. 

“We watched  _ Whose Line Is It Anyway?  _ and relaxed,” Nicole answered quickly so that Wynonna didn’t have the chance to answer. 

Shapiro nodded. “Aisha Tyler. Good choice. Even though  _ Criminal Minds  _ was losing its thread by the end, her character really enhanced the quality of the show.” 

“Wait,” Nicole back-tracked, surprised. “You watch  _ Criminal Minds?”  _

Eliza shrugged. “It’s not completely inaccurate. It oversimplifies the job, of course, and makes it seem like the whole team works together, which it definitely does not, but the characters are actually really interesting. What, did you not watch  _ Grey’s Anatomy  _ when you were in med school?” 

Nicole snickered, actually surprised that she was actually really getting along with the blonde today. “You got me. But I mostly watched the show for the queer content.” 

“Well, see, then we’re not that different. I watched  _ Criminal Minds  _ for the women. I think it’s fair to say the real crime in  _ Criminal Minds _ is not having Prentiss and JJ end up together. Honestly, I shouldn’t start. I care too much about fictional shows.” 

“It’s a good problem to have,” Nicole joked with an almost self-deprecating sigh. “So what’s the game plan for today?” 

“My thoughts were that we do as many interviews with people that were ‘healed’ before going to see McCarthy again. And then, how do you all feel about trying to talk to him afterward? Either undercover or with our badges in clear view.” 

“I feel like that would depend on how these interviews go,” Wynonna declared. 

“How so?” Nicole asked, a little startled by the look Wynonna gave her, like she was surprised that she talked to her. 

“It’s simple,” Earp said with a shrug. “If we find out that these people were actually healed, then we have to expect that something dark is really happening. We might be even looking at homicide. But if we find out that this is just an elaborate scheme… that’s a different crime that I wouldn’t be sure is connected to these deaths.” 

Nicole had to admit, Earp was right. Though she wasn’t expecting to find these people healed, she knew that they couldn’t plan very far ahead. They had no idea what they would learn from these supposed “healed” clients. 

When they finished their breakfast, they quickly headed to the car. They didn’t want to waste any time, especially since McCarthy started his sermon in a few hours. 

Wordlessly, Earp started to play a song that Nicole knew was for her. Well, she couldn’t be completely positive it was for her, but she heard the words and knew that she could feel them. Know them. Understand them. Every single word in the song was about being queer while being raised Christian. It was about the pain. The loneliness. 

_ “Oh, what a terrible honor it’s been _

_ To learn that my blessings are things you call sins _

_ I’ll spend the rest of my life tearing down _

_ The Jesus from Texas you put a crown _

_ But I won’t give up on you”  _

“I feel like this song is a little too on the nose, Earp,” Shapiro joked after the song finished. 

She didn’t know if this meant that Earp was trying to tell her that she knew how she felt or if this was just Wynonna being purposefully vague and mysterious, but she knew that Earp understood her without having to ask her anything. She didn’t know what it meant. If this meant that Wynonna cared, but didn’t want to, or the other way around. 

Nicole didn’t know if it meant anything. She knew she could have been reading into it like she read into everything. But there was a part of her that was sure that Earp was trying to communicate with her. She didn’t know what she was trying to say, but she was listening. She was listening so hard for anything. Because as angry as she was at her, she wanted to forgive her. Because if there was one thing she realized after not talking to her for a night, having Earp in her life was better than not having her in it at all. 

* * *

“Gerald? Gerald Nolan?” Shapiro asked when a healthy middle aged man opened the door. 

“Yes…? Who are all of you?” He looked genuinely confused and genuinely normal. Wynonna knew that a lot could be under the surface, that this man with a normal house and normal family could have secrets, but his genuine shock was something that kind of caught her off-guard. 

She showed him her badge. “We’re with the FBI, Sir, but you’re not in trouble. Do you mind if we speak to you for a few minutes? It won’t be too long.” 

He checked his watch and nodded. “Sure. I have a few minutes before I have to take off for work. Do you mind if we talk out here? My kids are inside.” 

Wynonna looked around him and found kids running around the house, looking like they were getting ready for school. Though she wanted to get a glimpse of what his home life was like, she didn’t want to traumatize any of the kids. So, she went with it and hoped that she wouldn’t regret it later. 

“What can I do for you?” 

“How are you feeling?” Wynonna asked him, not wanting to reveal how much she knew to see how much he would give up first. 

He rubbed his bearded chin. “Uh, other than being interviewed by FBI agents, I’m doing fine. My family is healthy, I’m healthy, thank the Lord. Can’t really ask for anything more than that.” 

Wynonna nodded, trying to act clueless. “I’m so glad. Because we thought that when we were coming here, you would be a lot more ill. We had heard that you had terminal cancer. We weren’t even sure if we were even going to be able to have this interview.” 

“Oh,” he said with an uneasy chuckle. “Well, about that, I’m in recovery. I won’t be considered cancer free for a while, but it’s looking good.” 

Wynonna smiled at him. “That’s great, really. Can I ask, are recoveries like that normal?” 

“No, it’s a miracle, it really is. Actually, I think this is all God’s doing. I had been suffering for so long, and I don’t think He wanted my children to be without their father. I have a purpose on this planet.” 

She nodded, realizing that he wasn’t going to bring up McCarthy himself. “So, you don’t think it has anything to do with Jensen McCarthy?” 

He immediately narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms. “What is this about? Are you investigating him?” 

“No,” she told him immediately, hoping that it was convincing. “No, definitely not. He’s not in trouble. Actually, can I admit something to you?” After he nodded, she continued with the lie. “We heard about him and we want to figure out his powers. Maybe even harness them. The US government is very interested in what he could accomplish for America.” 

Gerald nodded as if that made complete sense to him. “Of course. Well, I don’t know much. One day, I was deathly ill. Truly, I was making peace with my death before I went to the revival. We didn’t even know he had healing powers. I think my wife just wanted me to be close to my faith. But then he called out my name and pointed to me. He touched me and spoke in tongues. And just like that, I could breathe easier. I could actually stand up. I could laugh again. It was truly like nothing I had ever experienced before.” 

Wynonna tried her hardest to look amazed. “Wow, that’s beautiful. Do you have, like, any proof? Any pictures or medical records or—” 

“Of course!” He answered with a smile. “Do you have something to write on? I can give you the name and number of a few of my doctors. I’m sure they’d be a lot better at telling you what medically happened.” 

She just blinked, genuinely surprised. She wasn’t sure if she had believed him, but if he had some actual proof, that could change everything. Haught had passed him her notepad and he scribbled a few things down. 

“Here you go. Is there anything else you want to talk about?” 

Wynonna didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t expecting  _ this.  _ Kindness and helpfulness. She was expecting someone who didn’t want to talk to them, someone who avoided answering any questions, someone who didn’t have any proof because the healing never happened. 

If this man wasn’t lying, she didn’t know what this meant. If he was healed by Jensen McCarthy, that meant that the kid had abilities of some sort. While Wynonna was doubtful that the power came from God, she wouldn’t have been surprised if it was dark magic of some kind. Which, in turn, could explain the deaths. Balance. Payment. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a coincidence. She just wanted to know if these deaths were purposeful or if Jensen McCarthy had started messing with magic he didn’t understand. Either way, this case was looking more like homicide the more they dug deeper and deeper into deaths that could have easily been explained away as natural. 


	19. (don't) be scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team talks to the rest of the people who were healed. 
> 
> They go and see Jensen. 
> 
> Something big happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Spookies! 
> 
> I didn't update yesterday because it was Earp Day, but here we go!

Nicole was expecting to encounter complete liars. Con artists. Charlatans. She was ready to prove that Jensen McCarthy had not only  _ not  _ healed six people, but that he had also elaborately conned a group of people who were only searching for hope and faith. She was almost sure that it was going to happen. But after they interrogated the six people who were healed, she realized there were two possible options: 

  1. Either these six people were the greatest liars she had ever met, or…
  2. Maybe healing was possible and that Jensen McCarthy defied all science and reason. 



She didn’t like the second option. In fact, the second option terrified her. Because if the second option was real, then everything else she had ever learned could be wrong. And she didn’t know how she would handle that. Or if she  _ could _ handle it. 

“Raise your hand if your mind feels like it’s about to explode,” Shapiro attempted to joke and then raised her own hand. 

“There’s more investigating to do before we confirm that there’s anything… supernatural going on here,” Nicole stated firmly, not ready to go down the rabbit hole or take the red pill until she knew all the facts. And confirm that the facts were indeed facts. 

“Yeah, but… that was strange, right? I mean, if they’re lying, those are six of the best liars I have ever come across,” Shapiro commented as they walked back to the car after their last interview. “And I have interviewed more serial offenders and people with ASPD than I can count.” 

Earp just shrugged. “Maybe consider the scenario that they aren’t lying. Maybe that’s the simple answer here.” 

“How could  _ that  _ be the simple answer?” Nicole blurted almost bitterly. 

Before Earp could even explain herself, Shapiro interrupted. “Shit, we got to go to the tent revival. It’s about to start.” 

Eliza sped to the revival as Earp played “It Ain’t Easy” by David Bowie. Nicole just looked out the window and kept thinking of scenarios in which those people were not lying but still weren’t healed. She thought a lot about the placebo effect and wondered if these people were so convinced that McCarthy healed them that their minds tricked their bodies to heal. She knew it was all a stretch, but she was sure those explanations made more sense than the existence of magic. Or worse, magical powers that came from God. 

There was a buzz of excitement when they arrived at the tent. She was sure that everyone remembered McCarthy’s promise of healing the day previously. It almost reminded her of the kind of buzz before a concert. Like people were prepared for once in a lifetime performance. 

Also, like a concert, people were almost fighting for the best seats. Shapiro almost ran into someone and a person even rammed into Earp without apologizing. Nicole would have said it was ridiculous, but she was sure if she was a believer in this healing, she might be excited too. If anything, she just really wanted to be able to debunk all of this. For her sake and for everyone else who was being duped by this scheme. 

Other than the initial fee for entrance, an alms box was passed around this time. Nicole rolled her eyes, unsurprised. She would be surprised if this money really went to the poor. She watched as some people put twenties and tens into there. She shook her head knowing these people weren’t wealthy in the slightest. 

She spotted Dave Gant, the man who McCarthy said he would try to heal, in the front row. People surrounded him, telling the sick man that they were so glad that he was going to have the chance to live. To marry. To have children. Nicole’s heart sunk. This man, who looked to be in his early thirties, really did look sick. She just hoped that this man wasn’t going to be manipulated into thinking he was going to live only to then die tragically.

It didn’t take long for McCarthy to come out. People started to cry, to shout, to chant. Nicole looked around to see if there was anything strange or out of place. She wanted to find something that proved that there was something going on here that  _ wasn’t  _ supernatural, but highly illegal (or at the very least, immoral). 

“I’ve been praying all night and day,” Jensen told the crowd, barely silencing them. “Dave Gant has been on my mind for every second during the last day. God has heard me. He wants to heal you, Dave. He knows that you’ve been fighting for so long. Not just with this illness, but for all those years fighting for our country.” Jensen started walking away from his podium and toward the sick man. “Dave Gant. Are you ready to live?” 

The man started to cry when McCarthy put his hands on him. It went very quiet, but still, Nicole couldn’t exactly hear what McCarthy was saying. His eyes were closed, but it was obvious that he was murmuring something. 

“I think it might be Latin,” Wynonna whispered to her. “Or Latin with a mix of something else. Maybe he’s speaking in tongues too.” 

Nicole didn’t know how Earp came up with that, but she trusted that she knew what she was talking about. The “ceremony” of some sort lasted a lot longer than Nicole would have expected. She looked around at the audience, wanting to make sure that no one was being stabbed with anything in their thigh, but there was just stillness. No one spoke and no one moved but McCarthy.

Nicole didn’t know how much time passed. She could tell that at some point both McCarthy and Gant started crying. Gant’s family was just watching, some of them gaping, some of them looking so nervous that she thought they might get sick. 

But then McCarthy took a step back and took his hands off the man. Nicole heard gasps from around the room; everyone was waiting to see if he was healed. Even Nicole felt the tightness in her chest. She didn’t want McCarthy to be a healer, but she did want this man to not be in pain anymore. 

Dave Gant, with color returning to his cheeks, pulled out his oxygen tube and turned to a woman next to him and hugged her. People started cheering. Screaming. Nicole suddenly felt nauseous. She watched as people surrounded him, wanting to shake his hand, wanting to ask him how he felt. 

Nicole wanted it to be a trick. She wanted it so bad to be a fucking trick. 

“Haught.” Earp nudged her shoulder and pointed to one of the exits of the tent. McCarthy was huddling with two older people. They looked incredibly serious. As if something was wrong. Nicole didn’t know what this meant, exactly, but she had hope that it alluded to something else going on. Something that explained this all away. 

Despite the celebration, McCarthy and these two older people looked like they were heading out. Wynonna nodded toward them and Nicole knew what that meant. They were going to follow them.

* * *

If it was a performance, Wynonna thought it was a good one. It wasn’t very dramatic or overly put on. She was surprised that it felt so real. Besides, she couldn’t help but think that McCarthy was speaking some kind of incantation. Him sneaking off at the end with the people Wynonna presumed were his parents was even more suspicious. Suspicious of what, though, Wynonna still wasn’t sure yet. 

When they saw the three of them get into a BMW, the gang of FBI agents all headed to their car. Wynonna felt a rush of adrenaline. She was hoping that they were driving to find answers. 

“Anyone else suddenly need to pee?” Shapiro said as she trailed behind the car, doing an adequate job, Wynonna decided, at tailing the car without being noticeable. 

Wynonna snorted. “Haven’t been in a hot pursuit for a while, then?” 

“Not in a few months,” Shapiro commented with a short chuckle. “What about you, new partner? You’ve ever chased someone like this?” 

“Uh,” Haught started with a sigh, “no like this, I would say.” 

Wynonna couldn’t help but think about the beast who was in hot pursuit of Nicole in their last case. Her stomach hurt just at the thought of it. That fear was something she didn’t want to remember. It reminded her of the fear she had when she walked into Willa’s room and found it empty. 

When the car pulled into the driveway of a house, Wynonna figured this must be the place where McCarthy lived. They didn’t have very close neighbors, which Wynonna thought made sense. If they lived in a neighborhood, they would be constantly bombarded with people seeking their help. At least here, they had a resemblance of privacy. 

“What’s the game plan?” Shapiro asked, still a good few hundred yards away from the driveway so as to not look suspicious. 

Wynonna had been thinking about that a lot. “If the parents are the ones to open the door, we need to have a cover story. If they think we suspect McCarthy with anything related to a possible crime, they won’t let him talk to us. But if we use the same story like the one we had for the people who were healed, it should work. Though, if this all is a sham, they might be super unwilling to talk at all.” 

“Guess that means going with the flow,” Shapiro commented with a shrug. “I just hope the kid is the one who opens the door. Then we have a shot at more direct questions, right?” 

She nodded, agreeing completely. “We probably still need to use the cover story at first, but yeah, we should ask about the victims. See how much it freaks him out. We need to know if this is homicide we’re dealing with.” She turned around to look at the redhead, who was staring at the house with a look that Wynonna couldn’t quite decipher. “You ready, Haught?” 

“Let’s do it.” 

The three of them got out of the car and made their way up the long driveway. There was a huge seven-foot-tall cross in the front lawn. Wynonna felt shivers go down her spine. For the first time since they started trailing them, she got a bad feeling. Not like she thought that they were in danger, exactly, but that they were approaching people who might be capable of things that could make her piss her pants. 

Shapiro knocked three times on the door. It didn’t take long for the door to open. Wynonna felt a rush of relief hit her square in the chest.  _ Jensen.  _

“Hello? Were you all at the revival? I think I saw you all there. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any energy to do more healing today.” 

Wynonna shook her head. “No, Sir. We’re not looking for you to heal one of us. We actually work for the US government. The government is interested in your healing abilities. Do you mind talking to us for a few minutes?” 

McCarthy looked almost confused. “How did you all find out about my healing abilities?” 

She shrugged. “You aren’t really hiding it, are you?” 

The fifteen-year-old chuckled. “Guess I’m not. But I don’t think my parents would let me be used by the government or, like, military or anything like that. So…” 

“But you must know how powerful you are,” Wynonna said with a put-on smile, hoping the words went straight to his ego. “I mean, you’ve healed, what? Seven people? That’s incredible.” 

The kid fucking blushed. “Thank you. Yeah, it is. It’s not my doing, but it is incredible. It’s a miracle, it really is.” 

She grinned, knowing that what she was going to say might make things get intense pretty quickly. “I mean, what’s even more incredible is how at every event that you healed someone, someone else in the audience died right after. How’d you accomplish that?” 

His jaw dropped and his face paled. “What?” 

It was genuine shock. Wynonna just didn’t know if that meant he had no idea about the deaths or if he was just shocked that someone figured it out. She didn’t know how he wouldn’t know about the deaths, though, realistically. Unless he didn’t know that his actions (or magic) had consequences, which she guessed was possible. 

“Six people died after those healing sessions,” Wynonna repeated, her tone as light as ever. “Do you need me to tell you their names? I figured you would know them by heart by now.” 

He swept his greasy hair out of his eyes. Instead of cowering or backing down, he only stood up straighter. It was almost as if he took this as a challenge. 

“You don’t believe in Him, do you? If you don’t believe in Him, how can you believe in me?” Before Wynonna even had the chance to say anything, he continued. “You wouldn’t be able to find redemption, even if you tried, could you? You’re too far gone.” 

Wynonna crossed her arms and tried to shrug it off like she always could. People had been telling her similar shit as long as she could remember. 

“So, what? You can hear God?” 

He shook his head. “Sort of, but you wouldn’t get it.” He looked around Wynonna and pointed to Haught. “But she would get it. He’s still in your heart, isn’t He? Maybe you don’t even want Him to be, but he is. He hasn’t abandoned you. You shouldn’t abandon Him. He has a plan for you. Don’t forget it.” 

Wynonna didn’t have to turn around to know that the redhead was probably shaken by his words. He was trying to get under their skin. It was pretty general information, nothing specific. Like a proper fake psychic.

“And God’s plan for you?” Wynonna asked him, wanting to get back under  _ his  _ skin again. “Heal people in exchange for other lives? That doesn’t really sound very love thy neighbor-y to me.” 

“You have no idea what y—” 

The front door flew open with Jensen’s parents standing right there. They looked confused, though, not angry. 

“Jensen,” the woman greeted, “who are these people?” 

Before Wynonna and her colleagues could introduce themselves, McCarthy said, “They’re from the government. They’re interested in my healing. But I told them I’m not interested.” 

The parents glared at them before the father said, “He’s only a teenager! Who thought you could talk to him alone?” 

Wynonna had to admit that she expected this. “I apologize, sir. We didn’t mean to intrude. We’ll leave you all alone now. Thank you so much for your time and I’m sorry again for the inconvenience.”

The parents slammed the front door, saying nothing else in the process. 

“Well,” Shapiro breathed out with a sigh, “I don’t know if that was successful or not.” 

Wynonna wasn’t sure either. She was hoping for proof that Jensen was either a cold-hearted murderer or a scared kid who didn’t know what he was doing. But she didn’t feel like she got that specific evidence that pointed in either direction. 

“He seemed pretty shocked about the deaths,” Haught commented as they walked back to the car. “It seemed very genuine to me.” 

Before Wynonna even got a chance to comment, Shapiro murmured, “He could have just been shocked that we knew about the deaths. He was kind of a cocky asshole.” 

“Sure, but is that because he’s a teenage boy or is that because he’s a murderer?” Nicole asked, seemingly unconvinced that this kid was behind the deaths

“That’s an important question,” Wynonna agreed, “but I think we also need to ask ourselves this. Someone was healed today. Does that mean someone might wake up to their dead loved one tomorrow?”

* * *

They didn’t have a list of all those that attended the revival. And since the revival attracted people from across different towns, she didn’t know how they could ask around and find out who actually went there. They just knew that someone between thirty and forty might be in danger. 

“Maybe we can, like, post something on social media or something,” Eliza offered as they ate lunch at the same place they ate at the previous day. 

“Saying what?” Earp asked. “‘Check your back thigh for a mysterious mark. If there’s a mark there, you might die.’ I can’t see what we could post that won’t cause mass hysteria. Thousands of people will check themselves into the hospital when they just have a mole or freckle. That would be chaos.” 

Shapiro frowned at her. “Okay, Earp. You got any better ideas?” 

Earp sighed angrily and shook her head. “I fucking don’t. I don’t have any fucking bright ideas. Shit.” She dropped her fork onto the plate and got up from the table suddenly. “I’m going to the bathroom. Be back in a second.” 

Nicole watched as the brunette walked to the restroom. She couldn’t tell if Earp was angrier at the situation or at herself, but Nicole could tell that she was suffering. Nicole was terrified, too, but she wasn’t blaming herself like Earp was. 

“Now I’m feeling like shit asking you two onto this case.” 

“Why did you ask us to help?” Nicole asked Shapiro. “I mean, you obviously don’t believe in unexplained phenomena. So what did you think would happen by inviting Earp onto the case?” 

Shapiro shrugged and sipped her drink. “I don’t know, really. It was probably just an excuse to see her, you know? And maybe, I even thought I could change her mind and shit and bring her back to the BAU. I don’t know. But the second I saw the two of you interact, I knew she wouldn’t transfer back.” 

That just confused her. “Why? She’s only acted like she’s hated me since we got here.” 

The blonde just shook her head. “Look, I’ve known Earp a lot longer than you. She doesn’t hate you, new partner. The way she looks at you… she couldn’t hate you. I think she’s terrified of how much she  _ doesn’t  _ hate you.” 

Nicole stared down at her plate, not knowing what to say about that. She would have maybe agreed with her if they had this conversation before this case. But she was sure that Wynonna couldn’t like her as much as Shapiro was alluding to. 

“She likes you and she’s not all weird about it.” 

Shapiro snorted. “Of course she’s weird about it, just not in the same way. Because she doesn’t see us in the same way.” 

“What do you—” 

“Wynonna’s a good person,” Eliza interrupted passionately. “She just doesn’t always know how to tell people how she’s feeling. You just gotta give her a chance. Even if she’s being an asshole to you right now.” 

Nicole didn’t know what to say. Her mind was racing with thoughts from all over the place. Every thought was either on the case or Wynonna, and they just kept bouncing off of one another. So, instead, she just nodded. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Shapiro muttered, “Damn, I hope Earp’s alright. She’s been in there a while.” 

“Do you think she left?” 

“She usually doesn’t do that. Maybe we should check o—” 

Wynonna looked pale. At first, Nicole thought that she must have been ill or something, but when she stuffed her hands into her back pockets, Nicole could tell it had to be something else. It was the kind of paleness that Nicole had seen people have in hospitals. Not with people who were injured or sick, but with family members. It was like a mix between shock and fear. 

Nicole stood up and tried to walk up to her, but Earp took a step back. “Wynonna? Are you okay?” 

Earp pressed her lips together firmly as if she couldn’t open her mouth. It scared her. It scared the shit out of her. 

“Earp, you’re kind of freaking us the fuck out. What’s wrong?” Shapiro sounded almost angry. It made Nicole think that the blonde had never seen her like this before, which was even more frightening. 

The brunette gulped. “I-I have it.” Her voice was so quiet. So different than any kind of voice that Nicole had ever heard her use before. 

“Have what?” 

Wynonna shook her head and gulped again. “The mark. The mark that a-all of the victims had.” 

Nicole felt like someone punched her in the stomach. She couldn’t breathe. She thought her lungs had stopped working. 

Shapiro laughed nervously. “Shut up, dude. That’s not funny.” 

Nicole wished it was a joke. More than anything, she wanted this to be a joke. But when Wynonna’s reaction didn’t change at all, she knew that the brunette was telling the truth. Or, at least, what she thought the truth was. 

“Let me look at it,” Nicole blurted, trying to reassure herself in the process. “It might be nothing.” 

Earp clenched her jaw and crossed her arms. “It’s not nothing. I wouldn’t make this up.” 

“I didn’t say you would.” Earp still looked just as pissed. “Please, Wynonna. Please let me look at it.” 

“I don’t want—” 

Nicole instinctively reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Wynonna. Please.” 


End file.
